Unexpected
by Moczuuull
Summary: Hermione finds out she's pregnant and her whole life changes. But in all that chaos she finds support from an unexpected source. (Draco is a completely changed man and War happened differently than in the books. Also, rated T because of language)
1. First trimester

A/N: Hi! This is the first part of a three (maybe four) part story. Please read, review, etc. And also, English is not my first language, so if any of you finds some God-awful errors, please, point them out, because I'm not always able to catch them myself. I hope you'll enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I'm just borrowing the charachters and having my way with them.

* * *

"No, no, no. This isn't happening." Hermione whispered to herself, sitting on the bathroom floor, gripping the vial of the pregnancy test potion, now turned bright red, in her hand. "How on Earth did it even happen?" she thought. They were of course using contraceptive spells.

"How?" she whispered once again, before letting her head rest on the wall behind her. There she was, Hermione Granger, the witch who had sex whole three times before being knocked up.

* * *

"Oh, Merlin! I'm gonna be an aunt!" Ginny squealed in excitement. Hermione frowned.

"Gin, stop it," she said quietly.

"You're not happy about this," the redhead pointed out.

"Of course I'm not happy about this. I'm nineteen for Merlin's sake! I'm not even out of Hogwarts yet!" Hermione snapped at her friend.

"But you're graduating in a little more than three weeks. You're not far along, nobody will figure out a thing. You'll pass all of your exams with flying colours and then embrace the motherhood. How about that?" Ginny tried to cheer the girl up.

"I guess you're right. But I still need to break the news to him. And I'm not excited about that part at all." Hermione pouted.

"How far along are you anyway?" Ginny asked, scooting closer to her friend. The smile she had glued to her freckled face made her look like a crazy person.

"I figure I must be about nine or ten weeks. I didn't even noticed skipping my last period. It only occurred to me yesterday, when I discovered I was a week late." Hermione let out a sigh and collapsed onto the bed they were sitting on. How is it possible, she didn't notice? People were calling her the brightest witch of her age, and yet, she was oblivious to what has been happening inside her own body for far too long.

* * *

Draco Malfoy froze. It didn't happen often, he almost always knew what to do or say, but that… That was something else. He sat up in his bed and put the potions book on his nightstand. His eyes widened slightly, as he kept listening to the argument, that was currently taking place in the common room of the Head Boy and Girl quarters. He was not eavesdropping. He didn't have to, with all the yelling.

"Are you fucking crazy?! I don't want kids yet!'' the Weasel screamed.

'"Me neither, but it's kind of already done'' Granger wasn't screaming, unlike Weasley, but her voice was slowly growing louder and stronger.

"No! We used the spells. It can't be!", the boy kept yelling.

"There's always a slim chance they won't work and…"

"We used the spells! There's no fucking way it's mine!'', Weasley cut Granger off. 'Oh no. That was stupid, mate', Draco thought, rising an eyebrow.

"Are you insinuating that I slept with someone other than you?", the girl said in a steady tone. Draco already knew, that was the first sign of her fury bubbling over. She had the tendency to appear calm and collected just before she blew up with anger.

"You must have. Otherwise you wouldn't be pregnant!", Weasel kept screaming.

"Well, Ronald, for your information, no, I never cheated on you. That's your thing", Granger was almost growling. Draco could only imagine the look on her face right now. There was no way in Hell he would leave the safety of his room right now. Not when Granger was that pissed off.

Weasley ignored his girlfriend's words and simply stated:

"I want nothing to do with that baby! Nothing!"

"Then get the fuck out! We're done here!", now she started yelling.

"What, you're breaking up with me?", Weasley sounded truly outraged. 'Stupid git', Malfoy thought.

"OUT!", Granger didn't even sound like herself anymore. Draco didn't head Weasel's response, but he did hear the loud bang that accompanied closing the hidden door to their quarters with a lot more force, than was needed.

* * *

Draco heard Granger sob through the wall. It's been four hours. At first he kind of just felt bad for her. She did, after all, end up knocked up and without a boyfriend. But now he started growing irritated. As much as he hated admitting that, Granger was brilliant, she can handle anything life throws at her. And Weasley is simply an idiot. She's better off without him. And yet, she was still crying in her room, which prevented him from getting his sleep.

With a growl, he rolled of his bed, swung open his door and started banging on hers.

"Granger! I can't sleep when you're sobbing like that!"

The door to Granger's room opened slowly and she poked her head out.

"Sorry", she said in between sniffles.

Suddenly Draco felt bad about his behaviour.

"It's… I… I heard…", he couldn't find words. He simply had no idea what to say right now.

"What do you want?", Granger growled, angry at him all of the sudden. "What, you want to make fun of me? Oh, lookie here, Granger got knocked up and dumped, what a treat!". By the time she finished that sentence she was bawling again and sliding to the floor. She covered her face with her hands and it sounded like she was hyperventilating.

"Fuck", Draco hissed quietly. "Granger, stop that. It's gonna be fine. Besides, he's not worth it", he tried calming her down, while getting to his knees and patting her on the shoulder. He had no idea how to deal with a situation like this.

"Get up, Granger. I'll Floo the elves for some tea and ice-cream", he stood up, but she was still sitting on the floor. He peeled her hands off of her face and made her stand up. "Up we go!", he turned her around, led her to their common room and sat her on the couch.

She was sitting there quietly, with her knees pulled up to her chin. Draco sighed and grabbed a handful of the Floo powder to call the kitchen.

* * *

Hermione was spooning ice-cream into her face. 'Comfort food is the best remedy for everything, right?', she thought. Malfoy was watching her carefully. He was probably scared she would start crying again. It was peculiar. Draco Malfoy helping her through a break-down. Though it did feel nice to have someone sitting beside her right now.

"Why'd you think I wanted to make fun of you?", he asked suddenly. Hermione looked at him, puzzled.

"Isn't that what you do?", she answered with a question.

"Not anymore. I thought we made that clear. Shit, Granger, you seriously think that little of me?", his brows furrowed.

"You are an asshole", Hermione tried to smile, but it was not convincing at all.

"Yeah, but I'm not the kind of an asshole that bullies his pregnant roommate", Malfoy ran his long, slender fingers through his platinum blond hair. He was clearly agitated. "Or the kind of an asshole that would accuse the most prude girl in this fucking school of cheating."

He looked Hermione in the eyes and awaited her reaction. She ignored him and finished eating her tub of ice-cream. Malfoy remained silent until Hermione was done, but as soon as she was, he started talking again:

"Why did you put up with this idiot for that long anyway? I thought you were supposed to be smart."

That sentence hit the sore spot in Hermione's mind. She indeed was supposed to be the smart one. And at this particular moment she didn't feel smart at all. Her eyes started to tear up and before she knew it, she was sobbing into her hands yet again that night.

Malfoy groaned, as if he was annoyed by her state. And then Hermione suddenly felt him hugging her tightly. She froze at the unexpected contact, but he just started running his hand up and down her back in a calming motion.

"W-What are you doing?", Hermione breathed.

"Hugging you, stupid," Malfoy answered in a matter-of-factly tone.

"But why?" She untangled herself from his arms. He send her a confused look.

"Well, you seem to be going through some difficult shit, that's why." He quickly ran his hand through his hair again.

"But we're not friends. We do not like each other, Malfoy." Hermione felt like she had to spell that out for him.

"True. But I do feel that I owe you," said the Slytherin, looking at his hands.

* * *

Draco perfectly remembered the first time he had one of his post-war nightmares in the new quarters. Usually his screaming would wake him up, but that night was different. It wasn't his screams that pulled him out of the nightmare, but Granger's soft voice.

"Malfoy. Malfoy, it's okay. Calm down . It's fine. It's okay, Draco," she kept talking to him quietly. When she touched his arm he woke up, sitting up, startled. Granger yelped and he heard a distinctive smack, when her body met the floor. Fuck, he pushed her.

"Shit! I'm sorry, Granger." He jumped out of his bed and offered her his hand. She blinked twice, surprised, and then hesitantly took Draco's hand. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, but as soon as she was back on her feet, she hissed with pain.

"Did you bruise your bum, Granger?" Draco asked, sending her his signature smirk. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"No. I think I twisted my ankle." She tried limping to the door, but he steered her towards his bed.

"Sit. I have something for that," Draco said and opened the bottom drawer of his nightstand, looking for the healing creme. When he found it and turned back to the Gryffindor, he found the image before him extremely amusing. She was clearly very uncomfortable. It looked like she was trying to touch as little of his bed's surface as possible, while sitting on it.

Draco also sat on the bed, facing Granger and said:

"Give it."

"What?" she squeaked, shocked.

"Give me your leg. I've done this many times. Slytherins can be rough during the Quidditch practice." Granger's eyes went wide. "I know what I'm doing. Besides, I'm the one that pushed you."

She finally moved towards him a little and straightened her left leg on the bed. Draco rolled his eyes and grabbed her foot, propping her ankle on his thigh. She squirmed a little when he tugged her.

"Sorry," the boy murmured, then took some of the healing creme and started massaging it into Granger's ankle.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Draco working the creme into the Gryffindor's ankle, and her watching him carefully.

"I'm not gonna bite you, you know," the boy finally spoke, seizing his massage and looked the girl in the eyes.

"You're different,"she said quietly, keeping the eye contact. She looked like she was trying to figure out a difficult puzzle.

"Meaning?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're talking to me, touching me and you're being nice to me. And not once did I see that disgusted look on your face, while you did those things," she answered, her voice even more quiet.

Draco's face suddenly fell. He looked away from her and took a deep breath.

"You know, Granger, it turns out it is a lot easier to see things as they truly are without my demented father putting ideas in my head," the blonde said slowly, still avoiding her eyes.

"Is it now?" Draco felt her staring at him. He knew he would have to get over himself and do the right thing sooner or later, but he hoped the moment would happen rather later than sooner. But here they were, talking. The words just fell uncontrollably from his mouth:

"I'm sorry Granger. I'm so fucking sorry for all the things I said and did to you. I know you hate me for it and I would hate me too. And I know you'll never forgive me but…"

"I forgive you," she cut him off. His head snapped back to her and their eyes met.

"What?" He must have misheard her, right?

"I forgive you, Malfoy. You were just a stupid kid," she said calmly.

"Are you serious?" He knit his eyebrows. He didn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yeah. I mean, you're still pretty stupid, but it appears to me that you're no longer a kid," Granger shrugged her shoulders and Draco snickered at her comment. "And I don't really hate you. You're just an unlikable asshole. You clearly have your moments," she pointed at her leg resting on the Slytherin's thigh "but still unlikable," she finished.

"Thanks. For not hating me," Draco send her a smirk. "And also for waking me up."

"What was it about? The nightmare," Granger asked.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Voldemort. People dying and being tortured," she suddenly yanked her leg back from his lap and quickly got up.

"Fuck. Sorry. I didn't mean…" Draco tried to explain, but she cut him off:

"It's fine. I'm just tired. Thanks for the creme," she started limping towards the door, but stopped and still facing away from him, she asked:

"How often do you have those nightmares?"

"Pretty often," he answered. She just nodded her head and left his room without a word.

Since then, every time he had one of his nightmares she would wake him. She was probably doing it, so that she wouldn't have to listen to his awful screams, but Draco liked to think she was doing it for him. He was egocentric like that.

* * *

Hermione was feeling nauseous. She was also starving. Torn between the two, she slowly made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast. She had to stop a few times, because she honestly thought she would have to vomit in a broom closet. Luckily she didn't. Hermione was about to enter the Great Hall when Ginny darted out of the door, grabbed her hand and pulled her out to the hallway.

"Gin, what are you…" Hermione started, but Ginny cut her off.

"I feel like going outside. We should go outside. Let's go, Mione," she tried leading her towards the exit from the castle, but Hermione didn't budge. She poked her head inside the Great Hall and started scanning the room with her eyes.

"What is it Ginny?"

"Mione, don't.." The redhead tried pulling her back one last time, but without any success.

And then Hermione understood what Ginny was trying to prevent her from seeing. Ron was sitting on his usual spot at the Gryffindor table. And Lavender Brown was sitting on his lap. It looked like they were trying to devour each other's faces.

"Oh," Hermione whispered. Now she just felt nauseous. Her stomach dropped a little bit.

"I could hex him, if you want. I don't give a flying Merlin's ass that he's my brother," Ginny said and put her hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"No, that won't be necessary." Hermione took a deep calming breath and said " Let's go eat," and entered the Great Hall. When she and Ginny were approaching the Gryffindor table Ron and Lavender got up and passed them without a word. Lavender only giggled a little louder than usual, as if she wanted to assure Hermione saw them. She ignored that, because if she didn't, she thought she would actually murder them. A few students around them stared at Hermione. They almost looked like they were expecting her to start a fight. But Hermione just took her usual spot at the table and started scooping scrambled eggs onto her plate. She focused on that task as hard as she could. Otherwise she would notice Draco Malfoy creeping up behind her asshole ex-boyfriend.

* * *

Draco felt like something possessed him. When he saw Weasley parading around the Great Hall with that idiot Brown, or whatever was her name, something snapped inside him. He quickly got up from his seat, ignored Zabini, who asked him where he was going.

When Ron and his new girlfriend stepped out of the Great Hall, Draco didn't waste any time. He grabbed the redhead by the back of his robes and threw him against the wall, quickly pinning him, his forearm tightly pushed to his throat. Brown screamed, startled.

"What the fuck, Malfoy?!" Weasley gasped, having a little trouble breathing.

"You've got a lot of nerve, you know? You don't treat women like that, you gutless prick. Especially when they're in such a delicate state," Draco was hissing furiously into the Gryffindor's ear, so that Brown couldn't hear him.

"Oh, that's what this is about?" Weasley barely was able to articulate his words properly. "What, you want that? You can have her. I don't mind." He fought for a breath.

"From now on, you'll be treating her with respect she deserves. You don't want to get on my bad side, Weasel." Draco let Weasley go, but punched him square in the face, for a good measure, feeling the redhead's nose cracking under his fist. The Gryffindor screamed in pain and Brown was running to him.

"Won-Won!" she squeaked annoying the hell out of Draco.

The Slytherin wanted to leave, but when he turned around he met McGonagall's furious gaze.

"What is happening here?" she growled. "Mr. Malfoy? Care to explain?"

"Weasley looked at me funny, professor," Draco said in an innocent tone.

"That's no reason to start a fight, Malfoy. Ten points from each. And I'll be expecting you, Mr. Malfoy, in my office at eight this evening for a detention. Go to the Hospital Wing, Weasley." She turned on her heel and disappeared into the Great Hall. Draco watched Weasley and Brown scurrying away, a dark grin on his face. 'That'll teach him,' Malfoy thought.

* * *

Draco was reading his History of Magic textbook, sprawled on the couch in their common room, when he heard her come in. He raised his eyes from the text just in time to see her hurl a book at his head. He quickly ducked and send her an angry look.

"Watch the face, Granger. What the fuck?" he said and stood up from his spot.

"You punched Ron?" Granger was suddenly in his face, her eyes throwing daggers.

"He deserved it," Draco shrugged his shoulders and sat back on the couch.

"What the hell, Malfoy?!" the girl yelled at him.

"Dammit, Granger. Three days ago you told him you're pregnant and now he immediately went and got himself a new girl. That's just a dick move. I thought it would be good to beat some sense into him." Draco smirked slightly. He was proud for breaking Weasel's nose. It just felt good.

"Why? Why do you even care?" Granger asked. "And don't you dare say that you owe me," she quickly added. "I wake you up whenever you have a nightmare. That's it. It's nothing. You don't owe me anything." She was angry. Her eyes narrowed and her hands curled up into two tiny fists.

Draco looked her in those chocolate brown eyes and whispered:

"But I do. You don't understand, do you?" He cleared his throat and continued "Everytime I have one of my nightmares I… I'm terrified. I used to have panic attacks just thinking about them and anticipating them every night. But then you… You would wake me up every time. You kept telling me it's okay. If it weren't for you I would still probably be scared shitless of falling asleep and probably end up in a loony. So yes, I do owe you. As much as I hate to admit it, you do keep me sane, Granger." Her eyes changed. She was no longer angry. Instead, now she was looking at him with… compassion? She opened her mouth to say something, but Draco didn't let her.

"Stop. I don't need your pity, Granger." The Slytherin turned away from her.

"Pity is not what I'm feeling right now." He felt her body next to his. She sat beside him and sighed. "It's more along the lines of understanding.

They sat in an awkward silence for a moment. When Granger finally broke it, she said:

"You broke his nose."

"I did," Draco stated, looking back at her.

"Thanks." She send him a shy smile and grabbed a Potions textbook from her bag.

* * *

Draco was relieved that the N.E.W.T.s were over. He was tired and in a desperate need of a party. He felt confident. He knew he did well. All of the students that were taking the test that day spilled out of the Great Hall. He found Blaise and they were in a process of discussing where to organize a party this evening, when a small figure pushed their way through the crowd right next to him. Draco managed to notice Granger's messy curls bouncing on her head, before she started sprinting down the hallway.

"We'll talk later," Draco said and followed the path he Gryffindor took, walking at a fast pace.

Why was he even worried? He told himself that he's doing it because only three people know about her state. Someone should take care of her. It was the right thing to do, right?

He heard her when he approached the girl's bathroom. During the last week he became more than familiar with the sound of Hermione Granger vomiting. He patiently waited outside of the door, waiting for her to be finished. He learned his lesson. The first time this happened, he wanted to check in on her and as soon as he opened the door he met her wrath. She threw a bar of soap at him. And that time she got him.

Draco was glad she picked this specific bathroom. This part of the bottom floor of the castle was rarely used, so no one heard these extremely unatractive sounds coming from the bathroom. And more importantly, nobody saw him standing outside the door to a girl's bathroom.

After a few minutes the door opened and Hermione walked out, looking like she died and came back to life.

"What?" she growled, looking annoyed with his presence.

"How are you feeling, sunshine?" Draco asked sweetly, following her down the hallway.

"Gross. You?"

"Oh, I feel like partying," he said, grinning at her. She send him a look that said 'You've got to be kidding me'.The boy ignored that and kept talking "Tonight, Ravenclaw's common room. You're coming. No excuses. I'll drag you there, if I have to. That's a threat, Granger."

"Who's organizing this?" she just asked.

"Blaise convinced the what's-her-face he's been fucking to do it." A smirk crawled onto Draco's lips. Granger rolled her eyes upon hearing that information. "Oh, come on. Zabini is cool."

"Yeah, but that means there are going to be shit-ton of Slytherins there," she whined and stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"So?" Draco knit his eyebrows.

"Mudblood?" She pointed her index finger at herself.

"Muggleborn," Draco corrected her, scowling. "Don't call yourself that."

"You called me that for almost seven years," Granger retorted.

"And I keep apologizing for that," the boy responded calmly. "Why are you worried about the Slytherins?" he pushed.

"I don't feel like being called names and being made fun of tonight," she said, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Then we'll go together. They're kinda afraid of me." Draco shrugged his shoulders.

She raised her eyebrow and asked:

"Together? Like, arrive together?

"Yes. What's your damn problem now, Granger?" The blonde was starting to get irritated. He ran his fingers through his hair.

"You are aware that if we do that, people will see us, right? And they will start talking," she was talking to him as if he were a child. And that pissed him off. He took a step forward, making the distance between them a lot smaller and dropped his head down, so that his face was closer to hers. Their noses were practically touching. Granger gasped softly in shock of this sudden closeness.

"Frankly, Granger, I don't give a shit about what people think. Or see. Or talk about." His voice was quiet. "But clearly, you do. What, are you embarrassed to be seen with me? A Death Eater is just beneath you, isn't that right?" he hissed.

"If I can't call myself a Mudblood, you can't call yourself a Death Eater. It's only fair," she responded angrily. "And I'm not embarrassed. I was just concerned about your reputation as one of the biggest assholes in this school. You worked so hard for it." So feisty. So sarcastic. Draco smirked and said:

"Great then. The party starts at ten." He turned on his heel and walked away. He heard Granger scoff behind him.

* * *

As much as Hermione hated admitting that, Malfoy was right. When they showed up together at the party, the Slytherins, that indeed were the majority of the people gathered in Ravenclaw's common room, limited themselves to sending her funny looks. After fifteen minutes they practically forgot she was even there, which was fine with her. Hermione almost jumped with joy when she saw Ginny's long red hair in the far corner of the room. She was talking to Luna and Neville. Her friends were here. She didn't have to stand awkwardly by herself anymore. That was a relief.

Although after approximately an hour, Hermione wasn't so relieved anymore. Ginny was… tipsy, to say the least. The redhead was laughing uncontrollably and slurring her words a little. Hermione had to escort her friend to a bathroom, just to make sure she wouldn't get lost along the way. While leading her friend towards the girl's bathroom, Hermione felt a weird sensation in her lower abdomen. It almost hurt, but not completely. She disregarded that as some kind of muscle spasm. But when they got to the bathroom, she wasn't so sure about that anymore. She felt her stomach drop when she saw that her panties were stained red.

Hermione made a quick decision and led Ginny back to the party and asked Luna to watch her. Then she made her way back to the exit and headed towards the Hospital Wing.

"Granger!" She heard a familiar voice calling out to her. She stopped. Seconds later Malfoy caught up to her. "Where are you running off to so soon? The party isn't even near being over." He was a little out of breath. He must have ran after her.

"Malfoy, I don't really have time for that," she whined. The weird sensation in her abdomen started being painful.

"What, you have better plans?" he teased. She didn't answer. Something was not right. The blonde started getting blurry and she felt as if her knees were made out of cotton. "Granger?" His voice changed. He almost sounded worried.

"I..think I'm gonna faint," Hermione breathed.

"What, now?" She heard him say right when everything went black.

* * *

"Shit!" Draco hissed as he jumped forwards to catch Granger before she fell to the floor. He lifted her petite body up and headed for the Hospital Wing at a fast pace.

"Oh, Merlin!" Madame Pomfrey gasped when he entered, Hermione in his arms. "What happened?"

"She just collapsed," Draco said shortly, walking towards the bed Madame Pomfrey pointed at. He heard a soft whimper. Hermione started moving in his arms. He set her carefully down on the soft mattress and untangled his arms from the Gryffindor.

Madame Pomfrey waved a vial of angry green potion under Granger's nose and her eyes fluttered open. Confused, she looked around her.

"Mr. Malfoy here says you collapsed," Pomfrey started talking to the girl. "Do you have any idea what might have caused it?

Hermione quickly looked at Draco. He knitted his eyebrows and asked:

"Should I leave?"

"No!" That answer surprised him. "Stay," she said quietly and continued. "I...I'm pregnant and I started spotting and having cramps. I was on my way here and I fainted."

Draco's eyes widened. Hermione must have been embarrassed, because she was staring at her hands, probably avoiding his stare.

"All right. I'll be right back," Madame Pomfrey said and left disappeared behind the curtain separating the hospital area from her office.

Draco cleared his throat and unsure of what he was supposed to do, he pulled up a chair for himself, sitting right next to Granger.

"It's going to be fine," he said quietly and shyly grabbed her small hand. She squeezed it back tightly.

"I'm scared," Hermione whispered, her voice trembling. "I thought I didn't want to be pregnant, but now… I don't want to lose it…"

"Okay, Miss Granger. Lay back for me please," Pomfrey returned with a book in one hand and her wand in the other. Hermione did as she was told, still holding Draco's hand. "We don't get many pregnancies around here anymore, so I thought I would consult a book. Just to be sure." The woman muttered something, holding her wand against Granger's abdomen. Pink sparks flickered on top of the girl's skin and the room suddenly was filled with this peculiar sound. Quick thumping. Wait…

"Mhm," Madame Pomfrey hummed, pleased with herself. "Everything sounds perfect to me, Miss Granger. The heartbeat is strong and I don't hear any abnormalities."

"T-That's…" Granger stuttered.

"That's your baby's heartbeat, yes." Pomfrey smiled. "Spotting and cramps are nothing to worry as long as they are not strong. And you probably fainted because your blood pressure changed suddenly. That happens during pregnancy. But just as a precaution, I would recommend three weeks of bed rest. Is that alright with you, Miss Granger?" The girl just nodded her head. "Fabulous. I'm going to get you some prenatal potion now." Pomfrey waved her wand and the sound of the heartbeat disappeared.

The woman disappeared behind the curtain once again. Suddenly Granger started sobbing quietly.

"Everything's fine, Hermione," Draco said softly and squeezed her hand lightly.

"I know, I know." She wiped the tears off her face. "I'm just… relieved, I guess."

Madame Pomfrey came back with a vial of see-through potion and another book.

"Drink that." She handed the vial to Granger. She drank it. "And take that." Pomfrey gave her the book. Upon glancing at the cover, Draco discovered it was some sort of book about pregnancy. "It's best to be prepared. I expect you to visit a Healer right after the graduation. And I was not joking about the bed rest. You need to relax, give your body a break." Then she turned towards Draco and said, index finger pointed at him, as if she was reprimanding a child. "She's not allowed to lift anything heavier than a mug of tea. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Madame Pomfrey," Draco said quickly. He and Granger exchanger confused looks.

* * *

"Granger, come on. Get up,"Draco urged her, leaning on the doorframe of their quarter's bathroom.

"No. I live here now. This is where I'll stay. Forever," she whined, sitting on the floor, next to a toilet.

"Don't be so dramatic," he scoffed. Draco entered the bathroom, walked to the sink and grabbed Granger's toothbrush. He squeezed some toothpaste on it and handed it to Hermione. "Brush your teeth. We're leaving in five minutes.," he ordered. She started brushing.

"I don't want to go." Her words were muffled by the toothbrush in her mouth.

"Too bad. It's the graduation. You're going." She knew there was no point in arguing about that. So she just rolled her eyes.

Draco shook his head and left the bathroom. Exactly three minutes later Granger emerged from it too and joined him in their common room. Still in foul mood.

"Oh, lighten up. This are your last moments in Hogwarts. Enjoy them."

"Yeah, I really enjoyed puking for the last thirty minutes. Got anything else?" she scoffed.

"We have some flats to look at tomorrow, maybe try not to murder the realtor agent?" Malfoy sent her his favourite smirk and she scowled.

"Ugh! What are we, friends now?" She stomped away towards the door leading out of their common room.

"It would appear so," Draco sighed, following her.


	2. Second trimester

A/N: This one's kinda long ;) Enjoy!

* * *

"So? What do you think?" Malfoy asked Hermione. They already looked at all three flats the blonde was able to find. And frankly, she hated all of them. The first one was too tiny. One small bedroom and a space resembling a living room, connected to a kitchen. If she was looking for something for only herself, it would be perfect. But Hermione had to take under consideration that she won't be alone for long. The second flat she and Malfoy visited was actually fine. But the problem was the neighbours. While the realtor was showing them around she could hear loud screams from next door and something resembling explosions from above. How was she supposed to bring a newborn baby to a place like that? They would never get any sleep. Now Hermione was standing in the middle of the living room of the third and last flat they planned to see that day. It was dark. And she felt claustrophobic in it. It's not that it was small, oh no. The problem was the windows. All of the windows in this apartment faced the brick wall of the building standing right next to the one they were currently in. She felt trapped. Also, it smelled of mold or something.

"I think we should leave," Hermione said, sending Malfoy an apologetic look.

"Yeah, I hate it too," the boy agreed, nodding his head. "What crazy person thought of putting two buildings so close to each other?" They were out of the door in seconds. A moment later they were walking down the street in silence. Hermione looked at Malfoy quickly. He was hiding his eyes behind his sunglasses again. Yesterday evening, when they arrived at The Leaky Cauldron, Hermione discovered that people were either avoiding Malfoy or sending him hateful glares, because all they saw was a Death Eater. One older wizard even came up to her and asked if Malfoy was bothering her, and when she said she was fine, he looked at her as if she had lost her goddamn mind. It was almost amusing to Hermione to see people smile and nod their head at her when they saw her, and then watch their expressions change suddenly when they noticed Malfoy.

"So what now?" Hermione broke the silence.

"We're going to see the last flat on our list," he answered.

"Wait. I thought that was the last one." She send him a confused look, her eyebrows knit.

"There's another one. I just didn't tell you about it earlier." Malfoy sent her his go-to smirk.

"Where is it?" Hermione asked.

"Just around the corner. That's why we're walking." He pointed down the street with his chin.

"You're trying to make this my daily walk, aren't you?" she accused him, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Maybe." Malfoy was smiling, clearly pleased with himself.

After Hermione returned from St. Mungo's this morning and repeated to Draco what the Healer had told her, the boy looked genuinely concerned.

"So he said you can do everything, but take it slow?" Malfoy asked, knitting his eyebrows.

"Well, not everything," Hermione responded, digging through her suitcase. "But I don't have to stay in bed for the next two weeks. The Healer said short walks would be good for me and… You know… That I should relax." The boy slowly nodded his head. He was processing the information. Hermione could almost see the cogs spinning inside of his head.

Now she knew what that was about. He was trying to figure out how to follow the Healer's orders, but on his own terms. Hermione noticed that he started doing that. Malfoy tried to keep his eye on her at all times. And it was bothering her. But she knew there was no fighting it, because Malfoy was under the impression that he owed her for being there and helping him through his post-war nightmares. And when Malfoy's mind was set on something, there was no stopping him. That was just the Malfoy way. From Hermione's experience, that's how his whole family did things. Of course this situation was different, because he was actually helping her, whereas the rest of the Malfoy clan wouldn't even look in her direction. Well, maybe they would. But only to hex her.

"That's a muggle street," Granger stated, when they reached the right building.

"It is," Draco said, opening the door and holding it for her. "I asked Zabini's mother to talk to the realtor agent, so I don't really know what to expect. She only said it was 'a nice place'." He led the way to one of the apartments on the bottom floor and knocked on the door. A tall blonde woman opened almost immediately and with a huge grin on her face greeted them and asked:

"Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy I presume?"

"No. Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger," Malfoy corrected her, looking slightly offended at the idea.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the woman said quickly, and motioned with her hand, inviting them inside. Draco stepped aside and let Hermione in first. He's been doing that all afternoon and yet, every time she looked surprised.

"Stop making that face. Malfoys may be assholes, but we do have good manners," Draco scoffed.

They walked into the flat and looked around. Well, it was indeed nice.

"As you can see," the realtor started her presentation "the apartment is fully furnished. There are three bedrooms. The master and two smaller ones. The kitchen is pretty modern, but I find the island highly functional and the lack of wall keeps the living room nice and spacious."

Hermione darted down the short hallway of the flat and inspected all the rooms and the bathroom. The realtor kept talking to Draco, talking about tiles and floors, but he was no longer listening to her. He watched Hermione hurry from one room to another. She was smiling, which made Draco smile himself. When he realized how stupid he must look, he erased the grin from his mouth and tried recalling a blank expression to his face.

"I love it!" Granger squealed, returning to the living room.

"Great. Is it available right away?" Draco turned to the realtor agent.

"Of course Mr. Malfoy," the woman answered.

"Then we'll take it," He said, concealing his relief. He didn't want Granger staying at the Leaky Cauldron longer than necessary.

"Let me just get the paperwork." The realtor smiled widely.

"Wait," Draco gasped. "You're putting me on the lease?" He looked at Granger, wide-eyed.

"Yes. I decided you'll be moving in. I just didn't tell you earlier," she teased, repeating his own words from before.

"You want to live with me? Again?" He raised his eyebrow. To be honest, he didn't have any objections, but he couldn't just show her that.

"Not exactly," she paused for a moment. "Let me put it in a way your Slytherin brain will understand. We can use each other." Draco shot a quick look towards the door to the apartment, where the realtor was talking to the building manager. That would be a peculiar thing for them to overhear. "I'm still going to need a lot of help for the next two weeks. Maybe even more. And you have your nightmares. You said it yourself, you feel calmer when someone's around. I can be that someone. Besides, your only other options are staying with Zabini or at the Leaky Cauldron. But then again, paying only half of the rent would be nice. And it's not like the Ministry left you enough money to buy your own manor." She looked him straight in the eyes. Draco searched for any indication that she's just joking, but Granger looked dead serious. She was right. After Draco's trial, the Ministry took half of the money he got from his trust found, so he wouldn't be as well off for long. But he would never ask his mother for more money. He was too proud to ask Zabini and his mother to let him stay at their house for a while. And there was no way in hell he would go back to living at the Malfoy Manor.

Draco finally made up his mind, grabbed the pen out of Granger's hand and put his signature on the dotted line.

* * *

Hermione heard him screaming. Her eyes flew open and she got out of her bed. She got used to waking up in the middle of the night and waking him up. She was happy to do it, honestly. She knew all too well what it was like reliving those horrible moments from the war in your sleep. But she stopped having nightmares long time ago. Draco, on the other hand was still having them. Hermione padded to the boy's room, across the short hallway of their flat, and pushed the door open. Malfoy was muttering something in his sleep.

"No. Stop it. No, no, no!" His cries started getting louder again. Hermione stepped closer to him and started talking to him in a soft voice:

"Shhh… Malfoy. It's okay. It's just a dream. Come on, wake up. It's fine." She touched his arm and squeezed it slightly.

Draco quietly whimpered before opening his eyes. Before Hermione even understood what was happening, Malfoy was sitting on the edge of his bed, arms tight around her waist and his forehead resting just above her stomach. Hermione stilled, surprised.

"You're okay. You're okay," he whispered frantically. 'Is he still asleep?' she thought. Malfoy let out a shaky breath and seconds later, he let her out of his arms. Hermione took a step back. Draco looked at her and blinked a couple of times, as if he was trying to figure out if she was really standing in front of him.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I don't know what that was." He was staring at his hands, avoiding Hermione's eyes.

"You're lying," she stated, her voice quiet. Malfoy's grey eyes darted to hers and widened. "Why?" Hermione pushed.

Malfoy sighed and hid his head in his hands. She just stood there, waiting. Suddenly his head snapped back and he grabbed her left arm. Hermione was taken aback by his behaviour and once again, she just froze. Malfoy however started slowly pushing the sleeve of her shirt up, revealing her forearm. She had no idea what was happening or what he was doing, but for some reason, she let him. When her sleeve was above her elbow, Malfoy stilled for a moment, inspecting the pale skin of Hermione's forearm. Then he started tracing small lines on her skin with his thumb.

"It's still here," Malfoy whispered. In that moment Hermione understood. Her scar. He meant the word his aunt carved into her forearm. He was still running his thumb along the series of jagged lines that formed the word 'MUDBLOOD' on her skin, when Hermione asked:

"That's what the nightmare was about? That night at the manor?"

"Yes." He paused. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," the words escaped his mouth in something resembling a sob. His grip on her forearm tightened slightly.

Hermione didn't even think about what she was doing. She just grabbed the boy's chin with her free hand and made him look at her.

"You didn't do it. Bellatrix did. And now she's dead. End of story." Her voice sounded harsher than she intended.

"But I should've stopped it." Hermione was still holding his chin, but his eyes darted to the floor, trying to escape her gaze.

"If you did, your family would be in danger. And you would probably end up dead." Hermione swallowed a lump in her throat. "And I wouldn't have anyone right now." Malfoy looked back at her, his brows drew together. "My parents have no idea I exist," she explained "I can't go to the Weasleys, it would just feel wrong. And I won't put Ginny and Harry in the middle of this situation. They love Ron. And as much as I hate him right now, I just can't make anyone choose sides." Hermione sighed. "So at this moment, you're the only person that I can lean on, you dick. So stop apologizing for the things you can't change."

* * *

Dammit, he was sweating. Draco was sitting in a very small and uncomfortable chair outside the office of Jackson Donovan, a journalist that wrote for many wizarding papers. Draco applied for the job of his assistant, because he thought there wouldn't be much of a competition. And indeed, there wasn't. Only four other people were waiting for their interview. That wasn't so bad. Bud he was still sweating like crazy. He was nervous. Draco never had a job. He never needed it, before now. He lifted his hand off his knee to loosen his tie a little bit, but then remembered that Granger said that it looked more professional and neat the way it was now, tied perfectly. Constricting his neck movements. Suddenly, the door to Donovan's office opened, a slender bald man emerging from the room with a piece of parchment in his hand and spoke:

"Mr… Malfoy?"

"Yes. Hello," Draco said politely, extending his hand to him.

* * *

Hermione was sitting on the couch, drinking tea, book open on her lap. She heard keys rattle outside the door and the lock turning. Draco walked in, threw his keys on the kitchen island and started taking his tie off.

"That was quick," she stated, rising an eyebrow. "How did it go?"

"Horrible," Malfoy answered, collapsing onto the couch beside her.

"You said something stupid, didn't you?" Hermione accused the boy.

"Actually, I didn't even get a chance to do that." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

"How so?"

"When it was my turn to be interviewed, the guy came up to me and said the position was already filled," Malfoy explained.

"Well, your timing was just off…" Hermione started saying, but he cut her off.

"When I was leaving, I heard him calling the next person in for the interview." Hermione was struck, she stared at him in disbelief. "He recognized my name. And didn't even want to talk to me."

"That's so unprofessional!" Hermione spat angrily. "He should have at least given you a chance. What a prick!"

"I don't blame him, really," Draco sighed. "I wouldn't want a Death Eater working for me either."

"You're not a Death Eater anymore," Hermione growled.

"Well, Jackson Donovan doesn't seem to know that." Malfoy dropped his head back, sitting more comfortably.

* * *

"Malfoy?" Hermione knocked at his door. She was still in her pyjamas, and frankly, she didn't feel like getting dressed yet.

"What?" He called from his room. Hermione just knocked three more times. For Merlin's sake, it was too early in the morning for screaming at closed doors.

Suddenly, the door swung open and she was face to face with a very irritated Malfoy.

"What. Is. It?" he hissed.

"Food. I need food. Be a good roommate and go to the coffee shop downstairs?" Hermione asked sweetly. Draco groaned in annoyance.

"All that fuss about that?"

"I'm hungry," Hermione said. The blonde walked back into his room and Hermione noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt. Her eyes slid up and down his back. He was well built. Years of playing Quidditch did him good. When he turned around, she was able to get a good look at his almost perfectly carved chest and wide shoulders.

"Do you like the view, Granger? Or should I also drop my pants?" Malfoy teased.

"Huh?" Hermione's eyes snapped to his face. She could feel her cheeks burning. Draco took a few steps towards her, cocked his brow and said:

"Like what you see? It's not polite to stare, you know."

"Ugh, don't be so full of yourself," Hermione scoffed. "If you parade half-naked, you ought to get a few looks. It doesn't mean I liked it." The brunette turned on her heel, feeling her cheeks getting even hotter. "Now go get me some muffins!" she yelled, before locking herself in the bathroom.

* * *

Granger and her damned muffins. Every morning she wants muffins. And if she doesn't get them, she gets moody. And when she's moody, she's annoying as hell. So Draco's been fetching her muffins every morning for a week straight now.

While he waited in line in the coffee shop outside of their building, his eyes found a sign on the counter, saying "HELP WANTED". Draco's brows snapped together. When it was his turn to order he said:

"Hi, Four muffins, tea and black coffee, please. Also, could you get the manager for me?"

* * *

He walked through the door to their apartment and presented a brown bag containing their breakfast to Granger.

"What took you so long?" the girl grumbled, taking her tea from his hand.

"Well, if you _must_ know…" Draco rolled his eyes. "I was getting myself a job. Being charming sometime comes in handy."

"You mean manipulative?" Granger teased, before taking a sip of her drink. "You got a job then? Where?"

"In the coffee shop downstairs," he answered, biting into one of the muffins.

"You're joking, right?" the girl snorted and looked at him wide-eyed. He merely shook his head. "Draco Malfoy, Hogwarts' number one spoiled brat, serving coffee in a muggle shop?

"And desserts. Don't forget the desserts" Draco said, sending her a smirk.

* * *

"Are you sure you're okay with him coming here? I know how touchy you are when it comes to spending time with Slytherins," Draco asked her for the third time that day.

"For fuck's sake, Malfoy!" Hermione growled. "It's fine. I told you that already. And I'm not touchy. I just don't _like_ being _surrounded_ by Slytherins. Tonight I'm going to have to deal with only two of them, so stop worrying so much."

"Okay, okay. Settle down, little Gryffindor. Who would have guessed you know such foul words?" Malfoy chuckled and handed her a bowl filled with popcorn.

"It seems that living with a Slytherin is rubbing off on me," she sighed and the corner of her mouth quirked up. He smiled back and got back to preparing the snacks.

A few minutes later they heard a knock on the door. Hermione opened it, and met Blaise Zabini's dazzling smile. She motioned with her hand, inviting him inside.

"Hello, Hermione," he greeted her as he walked by her. "I come bearing gifts!"

"Booze!" Malfoy screamed in joy.

"And chocolate ice-cream for the lady, just as I was instructed," Blaise handed Hermione a paper bag.

"Thank you. You shouldn't have," Hermione sent Zabini a wide smile. Then she glared at Malfoy. "But I suppose Draco here told you something along the lines of 'if you want to survive this evening without getting hurt, better bring the ice-cream', hmm?"

"Actually," Zabini said "that's exactly what he said."

Soon after that, the boys opened the bottle of Fire Whisky that Blaise brought. Zabini was pouring the drink and motioned towards Hermione's glass with the bottle, silently asking her if she wants one too. But before she had the chance to say no, Malfoy answered for her:

"She doesn't drink." Hermione slightly narrowed her eyes at the blonde. She was able to speak for herself. Blaise just shrugged his shoulders.

The three of them talked about almost everything, from gossiping about their classmates to Malfoy's new job. As the evening went on, the boys were getting more and more tipsy. Hermione had to admit, the Slytherins could hold their liquor. None of them ever started slurring their words, even though the bottle was almost empty. They were just relaxed. And Malfoy giggled a couple of times, but that was it. At some point, Hermione retrieved the chocolate ice-cream from the freezer and started eating it straight out of the tub.

"Oh, I forgot to ask, Hermione," Blaise said "have you and your little redhead gotten back together after all?"

"No," the girl answered "and I have no intention of ever going back to him."

"Good." Zabini nodded his head. " Don't get me wrong, but he is kind of a…"

"Dick? An asshole? A gutless sack of crap?" Malfoy started muttering, cutting his friend off. Blaise sent him a confused look. Then he turned his eyes to Hermione, who was trying to hold in a chuckle.

"Anyway…" Zabini cleared his throat and continued "I'm sure you'll find yourself a better boyfriend in no time."

"I doubt that," Hermione scoffed, slapping Malfoy across his arm for letting out a snicker. In response, he only stole some of her ice-cream.

"Oh, don't say that." Zabini rolled his eyes. "You're smart, funny, pretty…"

"And almost four months pregnant," Hermione cut Blaise off. "Boys aren't really interested in pregnant nineteen year olds." His eyes widened and darted to her stomach, then back to her face. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but he closed it again. Then his eyes started jumping from Hermione to Draco and back.

"Did you and Draco..?" He started asking, but Hermione quickly interrupted him:

"No! God, no. That… Never. Not ever. No," she sputtered.

"Hey!" Draco pouted, pretending to be offended by her defensiveness.

"So...Weasley then," Blaise stated slowly.

"Yes," Hermione confirmed.

"But he's not in the picture." Blaise was clearly still processing the information.

"Yeah, and it was his fucking choice," Malfoy spat. Zabini once again sent his blonde friend a confused look, but then just smirked and said:

"Well, shit... Malfoy's working for muggles and Granger is not a virgin after all. Is the sky still blue?" Draco snorted with laughter at this comment, but Hermione only narrowed her eyes at both boys.

"Oh, sod off, Blaise." She scowled.

* * *

Ginny was sitting at the edge of her seat, when Hermione walked out of the examination room at St. Mungo's. The redhead almost jumped out of the chair when her friend stood in front of her.

"Tell me everything,"she said. She was so excited. Hermione giggled quietly.

"Well, the Healer said that everything is perfectly fine. When he saw that I started showing a little bit, he said that I finally popped. And the baby is now a size of a turnip." Hermione summarized everything the Healer told her.

"A turnip?" Ginny looked down at Hermione's belly, with a big grin on her face. The brunette nodded her head, enjoying seeing her friend's excitement.

"Now let's get out of here. I'm starving," Hermione said and grabbed Ginny's hand and led her out of the hospital.

* * *

Draco sent Hermione an annoyed look. She was still going through her closet, looking for something to wear.

"You're not ready yet." It wasn't a question.

"I can't find anything dinner appropriate that would still fit me," the girl growled. "I know I have this one dress…" she mumbled, still digging through clothes. Then she pulled something black out of her closet and ran to the bathroom.

"We're late. I'm gonna go get Zabini and we'll meet you downstairs, okay?" Draco said, looking at his watch.

"Sure," Hermione answered, closing the bathroom door behind her.

* * *

"Crap!" Hermione hissed angrily, trying to pull the zipper of her dress down. There was no way she would be able to put that dress on without unzipping it first. But the zipper was jammed and after a few harder tugs, it broke completely. The girl groaned in annoyance. And looked around, looking for her wand. Of course she left it in the living room. She hung her dress on the door and muttering quietly some obscenities about the damned zipper, she stepped out of the bathroom, heading to the living room. But when she turned the corner at the end of the short hallway of her flat, Hermione ran into something big. Or tall, rather. Her face was buried in someone's body for a split second. When she recoiled back, she saw Blaise, standing by the door, his eyes wide. Hermione squealed and quickly ducked behind an object closest to her. Unfortunately, that object turned out to be Malfoy. It was the blonde's chest, she smacked her face first into. And now she was holding him by the front of his white shirt, making sure, he wouldn't move and expose her to Zabini's gaze.

"Why the hell are you half-naked, Granger?" Malfoy asked, shock in his eyes.

"My zipper broke!" she cried out, cheeks red from embarrassment "You said you would meet me downstairs."

"Let me just say this one thing, Hermione: Wow," Zabini said through laughter, holding his stomach.

"Thanks," Hermione hissed. "Now turn around, so I can get my wand from the table."

Zabini turned on his heel immediately, still laughing. Malfoy on the other hand was staring at her breasts, covered only by a lacy bra. "Malfoy."

"Hmm?" The blonde seemed to have lost contact with reality, because his eyes were still glued to her boobs. Hermione simply smacked him across the top of his head. That brought him back. He jerked his head up and looked away, allowing her to quickly go and grab her wand off the table. Then she ran back to the bathroom to get dressed.

* * *

Hermione, Malfoy and Zabini walked into the restaurant. The boys haven't commented on Hermione's little mishap even once. Which was nice, but also suspicious. They _were_ Slytherins after all.

Blaise searched for his friend, and when he found her, he led Hermione and Draco towards the table she was occupying. When the three of them reached it, Zabini introduced them quickly, before sitting down.

Julia Cane was a beautiful, raven-haired girl with blue eyes. She wore a stunning royal blue dress, that perfectly hugged her figure, which made Hermione feel very…below average. And she talked a lot. Hermione always wondered, how was it possible, that some people just never seem to stop talking. Julia was definitely one of those people. She told them about how amazing working in Spell Control was, and how great it was that Blaise was going to be working with her. She also talked about her two cats, Jerry and Perry.

"Oh, I just love double-dates. They're always so interesting. Getting to know people…" Julia babbled away.

"Double what now?" Hermione's head snapped up from her meal.

"Don't get those pretty lacy knickers of yours in a twist, Granger," Malfoy said quietly, his mouth drawing closer to Hermione's ear. "We're here for Blaise."

Zabini tried hiding a smirk and Julia apparently thought it was some kind of joke, because she giggled happily. She went on about double-dates being the best thing in the world, when Malfoy leaned in to her and whispered:

"Red lace, hmm? You keep surprising me, Granger." Hermione wanted to slap that stupid smirk off of his face, but instead, she just rolled her eyes. She tried ignoring blonde's words, but her blush gave her away. "You're welcome to parade in such attire more often. I really don't mind."

"But I do mind," Hermione hissed "Stop it!"

"Hermione, can I ask you something?" Julia turned to the brunette.

"Sure," the girls said, forcing a friendly smile on her face.

"I don't want to be too forward," Julia started, locking eyes with Hermione "but are you pregnant?"

"Uh," Hermione was a little taken aback by the question "actually, I am. How did you know that?"

"Oh, congratulations!" Julia squealed "Ever since my sister got pregnant, I have like this sixth sense. I can spot even the smallest baby bump."

"Um, well, thank you," Hermione said, trying to maintain a nice smile on her lips.

"Oh, Gosh. Two such good looking people, you probably made a gorgeous baby," Julia said, looking at Hermione and Malfoy. The Gryffindor and the blonde Slytherin quickly looked at each other confused. "Right, Blaise? Hermione and Draco's baby is going to be beautiful," Julia kept babbling. Hermione was opening her mouth to explain that Julia was mistaken, and the baby isn't Malfoy's, when Zabini said, with a smirk:

"Of course. It's going to be the cutest baby in the world."

If looks could kill, Blaise Zabini would be dead, because both Hermione and Malfoy were sending him foul glares.

* * *

They cut the dinner short because Blaise and Julia had other plans. Draco was happy about that. If he was forced to listen to that girl talk for any longer, he would pull out his wand and glue her mouth shut. Besides, he wanted to murder Zabini. The dickhead probably thought he was so funny, making his girlfriend think that he was the father of Granger's baby. Draco promised himself to get his revenge. Soon. That's why when Julia locked Hermione in a tight goodbye hug outside of the restaurant, the blonde took the opportunity to threaten his best friend:

"I'm going to hex you, you prat."

"Oohh, I'm terrified," Zabini teased. "Have good night, mate. And stop eye-fucking Granger already," he whispered, before getting Julia off of Hermione, and leading her down the street. Draco blinked a few times before grabbing Granger's arm and apparating in front of their building.

* * *

"So I was thinking," Hermione said, taking just washed plate from Malfoy and drying it with a kitchen towel "maybe we could visit Diagon Alley Friday afternoon? I wanted to buy some books and potions. You finish work at four, right?"

Draco stilled for a few seconds, before responding:

"Um… Actually. I have a date on Friday. I've already made a reservation in a restaurant." He sent her an apologetic look. "But we can go Saturday."

"Oh," Hermione gasped, taken aback. Including their time in Hogwarts as the Head Boy and Girl, they've been living together for almost a year now. And during all that time not even once Hermione had heard him mentioning dating anyone. She was sure he was _seeing_ some girls, mostly from Ravenclaw, because she often saw him flirting with them in the hallways and he was Malfoy, after all. But he never said anything about _dating_. "Okay. Good for you," Hermione said after clearing her throat.

Malfoy stared at her for a moment with an odd expression on his face.

"I have _a life_ , you know," he snickered, sending Hermione a smirk, while he handed her another plate to dry.

"I know that. I'm just surprised," she said, carefully wiping the water from the plate she was holding.

"Why?" Malfoy cocked his eyebrow, smirk disappearing from his lips. "Girls love all of _this_." He gestured towards himself.

"Modest, are we?" Hermione rolled her eyes. "What I meant was… You never talk about these things," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"That's 'cause I'm not really the dating type." He turned his body towards Hermione and leaned against the counter and folded his arms across his chest.

"So what, you're more of a 'screw it and leave it type of guy', hmm?" Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

"Usually. From my experience, girls tend to get… clingy. I hate that," he answered calmly.

"This girl must be special then," Hermione said, setting the now dry plate down and also crossing her arms on her chest.

"Not really," Draco scoffed "she's actually quite boring from what I've noticed. And totally not my type."

"Why bother then?" Hermione asked.

"She asked me out and I figured I had nothing better to do, so I agreed." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, how nice of you," Hermione said, her voice soaked with sarcasm.

"What is it, Granger?" He sent Hermione that annoying smirk of his again. "Are you jealous?"

"Why on Earth would I be jealous, Malfoy?" Hermione frowned.

"Because you got used to having me all for yourself." He sent her a lopsided grin. "And now you have to share."

"Ugh, get over yourself, Draco," the girl said, shaking her head at the blonde. But the thing was, what Hermione felt, was awfully resembling jealousy.

* * *

Hermione groaned angrily. She couldn't fall asleep. Every position was uncomfortable, her back hurt and she was tired from constantly rolling in her bed for a few good hours. She had enough. She needed a distraction. She got up from her bed and crossed the short hallway of the apartment. She slowly opened the door to Malfoy's room. He was asleep. Lucky bastard. After a moment of hesitation, Hermione walked up to the side of his bed and said quietly:

"Malfoy? Malfoy, wake up."

"What is it? Are you okay?" The boy turned towards her, confused.

"I'm fine… I mean, the baby's fine. I can't sleep," Hermione explained.

Draco raised his body slightly, supporting himself on his elbows. His brows drew together and he asked:

"And why exactly are you here?"

"I… I'm so uncomfortable. And tired. And I couldn't… Just talk to me a little." She had no idea why, but her eyes started filling with tears. "And I just keep thinking… How am I supposed to raise a baby by myself. I don't know anything about babies." Hermione started wailing, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Granger," Draco gasped, surprised at her sudden outburst of emotion. He pulled Hermione towards his bed and then onto his lap. The girl didn't even have the energy to fight him. She just surrendered, hiding her face in the crook of Malfoy's neck, sobbing loudly.

"Shh, Hermione. You'll figure everything out when the time comes," he said quietly, stroking her hair in a calming manner "You'll be an amazing mom. You're the smartest witch I ever met, you'll figure everything out in no time."

After a few minutes Hermione's sobs calmed down and she just sat there, on Malfoy's lap, in his bed, trying to calm her breathing down.

"I'm sorry," she sniffled and raised her head from Draco's chest.

"It's fine. Everyone has meltdowns sometimes." The blonde wiped tears from Hermione's cheek with the pad of his thumb. "Would you like me to hold you for a while? I remember, that my mother used to do that for me when I was little and had trouble sleeping. "

Hermione nodded her head. She was so tired. But also, she was still wondering, how will she be able to manage taking care of the baby after it's born. Those thoughts were interrupted by Malford shifting both of their bodies. They were now laying down on the boy's bed.

"What are you doing, " Hermione breathed, shocked.

"Just relax. I can be your body pillow for a bit. " Draco put his right arm under the pillow Hermione's head was resting on, encouraging her to make herself comfortable. Hesitantly, she turned slightly on her side, facing Malfoy. The side of his body turned out to be perfect support for her growing baby bump. Hermione sighed with relief when the pain in her lower back eased and nuzzled her head at the base of Malfoy's neck.

"Better? " She could hear him smirking, while asking her that.

"Much, " Hermione responded "Tell me something interesting. "

"Like what? "

"I don't know," Hermione searched her brain for any questions she could ask the blonde. "Who's your date? " Draco chuckled quietly and answered:

"This girl from work. She usually comes in on the weekends."

"So you like her?" Hermione kept asking.

"I'm not sure." The girl lifted her head and sent the blonde an odd look.

"How can you not be sure if you like her?" she snickered "People usually go on dates with people they _do_ like."

"She's nice. But I don't know if there's any chemistry," Malfoy sighed, clearly tired with Hermione's inquisition.

"Oh, come on," Hermione scoffed "you learn to notice those things after some time. Haven't you ever been in love?" The brunette felt Malfoy's body tense up. It took her a moment to understand his reaction, but when she did, sh exclaimed:

"Oh crap! You've never been in love?"

"Love is for pussies, Granger," the blonde growled. Hermione stilled. That sounded so much like the old Malfoy. Well, he couldn't have changed completely, could he? But the old Draco Malfoy would never hold her, like he was right now. He wouldn't even touch her, without his face contorting with disgust back then. Hermione lifted her head again and quickly looked at his face. His eyes were closed and he seemed calm. That was reassuring enough for Hermione. He wasn't back to his old self. After a while the girl's eyes slid down from Malfoy's face to his chest, or rather to his left forearm resting on his chest. He was wearing a t-shirt with short sleeves tonight. That was unusual. He usually wore long sleeves. Hermione suspected that he did that in order to hide his Dark Mark. Snape used to do that too. But tonight Malfoy's Dark Mark was out in the open. A small shiver ran down Hermione's back upon seeing a part of the familiar looking skull just below Malfoy's elbow. Curiosity took over Hermione and she reached for Draco's forearm, moving it slightly, to reveal the whole Dark Mark. When she did that, Malfoy jerked his arm away from her.

"Don't," he whispered. She could feel his eyes on her, but she ignored that.

"I want to see," Hermione said, almost demanding.

Malfoy hesitated for a moment, but he finally moved his arm back to his chest and rotated his forearm slightly, giving the girl full access to the Mark. Without even thinking about it, Hermione touched the Dark Mark with the tips of her fingers. Malfoy tensed up, his jaw clenched. Hermione took in the feeling of bumpy and slightly rough skin, that was covering the Mark.

"The scarring got worse when he died," Draco answered the question she never asked.

"Does it hurt?" Hermione kept tracing the Mark and the skin around it with her fingers.

"Sometimes," Malfoy responded shortly. He was still extremely tense, his breathing shallow. Hermione looked up at his face, where a pained expression appeared. "Go to sleep, Hermione," he said quietly and locked her in a tight hug. She nuzzled her head back in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes, breathing in Draco's scent.

* * *

Hermione was woken up by a breath tickling the nape of her neck. That was weird. But after a moment, it dawned on her. It was Malfoy. He was still holding her, although now they were in a spooning position. His arm thrown over Hermione's waist and his chest right against her back. He was still asleep, Hermione deducted after listening to his slow and steady breathing for a moment. She tried wriggling out of his hold, but as soon as he felt her moving, his arm hugged her tighter, bringing their bodies even closer. Hermione was left breathless. The sensation of Malfoy's body so close against hers was nice. Too nice for her liking. She tried to free herself from his grip again, this time accidentally rubbing her bum against him. Malfoy groaned and rubbed something hard against Hermione's backside. The girl's eyes widened in shock. Was that..? No… But it was. Hermione stilled, feeling Malfoy's erection on her bum. Oh, Merlin.

"Malfoy," she tried waking the boy up.

"Sleeping," he muttered, still unconscious and rubbed himself against Hermione again, trying to bring her closer.

"Malfoy, you're poking me," the girl hissed, fighting to peel his arm away from her.

"What?" the blonde lifted his head, confused. It took him a few seconds, but he let Hermione out of his tight grip and jumped out of his bed. "Fuck. Sorry," he mumbled, his cheeks red from embarrassment. "I'm gonna…" he sputtered and then just quickly walked out of his room. A moment later hermione heard the bathroom door being slammed shut. Hermione sat in the bed for a few moments and then snorted out a laugh. She just saw Draco Malfoy blush.

Compared to the earlier events, the rest of the morning was rather uneventful. Malfoy avoided Hermione's eyes and a few times he opened his mouth, like he wanted to say something, but then it would just snap shut. Hermione found it amusing. She would never think that Malfoy had even an ounce of shyness in him, but there he was, blushing like a schoolgirl every time he looked at Hermione. He even left for work about fifteen minutes earlier than he normally would.

After that Hermione got ready for the day and went out to run her errands. She bought some food and a few new t-shirts, because hers were starting to become a little too tight. She spent the rest of the day at the flat, reading books on Advanced Transfiguration. Before she knew it, it was already after four in the afternoon and Malfoy was back from work.

"Hey," he greeted her quickly and disappeared into his room. A few minutes later he emerged again, his grey long sleeve t-shirt replaced with a black button up and his nearly white hair combed neatly to the side. He was still wearing black jeans though. Hermione eyed him suspiciously and then she remembered. Today was Friday. He had a date.

"All dolled up?" the girl teased, pretending to be extremely interested in the book in her hand.

"Obviously," he said, smirking and then headed for the door, grabbing his jacket, which was also black, on his way out.

"Have fun!" Hermione called, before the door closed. There was no response.

She was alone at the apartment again. And she was bored with the reading, which was unlike her. With a sigh, Hermione pushed all the books surrounding her aside, and decided she would just clean the flat. She had nothing better to do anyway.

* * *

'Well, that was a stupid idea.' Draco though, watching Jackie drive off. She _insisted_ on giving him a ride home and it was the first and the most boring car ride of his life. They simply had nothing to talk about. Somehow, Draco managed not to fall asleep in the restaurant, while the girl talked about how hard studying law was. She was a nice person. But she was definitely not his type. But he was still a gentleman and thanked her for the ride and the evening before he exited the car. Then he entered his building, he heard music coming from his apartment. He quietly opened the door and entered.

Granger was standing in front of their bookshelf in the living room and looking at it, her head cocked to the hair was tied in a messy bun on the top of her head, so he could see the back of her neck. Her hips were swaying slightly to the music. Draco's gaze stopped there for a moment. It looked like she was organizing the books and was lost in her thoughts. She didn't hear him sneaking up to her and when she turned around, she ran into his chest. For a split second Hermione stumbled, startled by the unexpected obstacle that was Draco Malfoy. He grabbed her arm, helping her get her balance back.

"God! You scared me," the girl scolded him and her tiny fist punched him in the chest.

"No need to be aggressive, Granger," Draco pouted, pretending to be offended.

"No need to be sneaking up on me, Malfoy," she retorted. Draco merely chuckled and reached for her tea, standing on the coffee table, but before he could even take a sip, she waved her wand and the liquid spilled all over the front of Draco's shirt.

"Oh, come on!" the blonde whined. Hermione looked pleased with herself.

"That's what you get for being an ass," she said, sending him a smirk "Now stop whining and help me with throwing these boxes out." She motioned towards the trash.

Draco rolled his eyes and started unbuttoning his shirt, which was now sticking to his chest. Hermione cocked her eyebrow, but didn't say anything. When the blonde freed himself from the wet piece of clothing, he grabbed a few of the boxes and stepped out to the hallway, where the trash chute was. Hermione also grabbed a box and followed him.

"You should put some clothes on," the girl said, watching Draco struggle with pushing multiple boxes at once down the chute.

"But then you wouldn't have anything to stare at," he teased. Now Hermione was the one rolling her eyes. When he finally got the boxes to fit in the trash chute, the brunette shoved the one she was holding down the chute too.

"I could have done that," he mumbled.

"Draco, I'm pregnant, not dying," after she said that, her eyes landed on something behind him. Draco whipped around.

"Jackie?" he said, surprised. What was she doing here?

"I… You...You left this in my car," she stammered, handing him his jacket. Her eyes were wide, noticing the lack of Draco's shirt, and jumping back and forth between him and Hermione. She opened and shut her mouth a few times, wanting to say something, but nothing came out, so she just turned on her heel and nearly ran out of the building.

"Thanks!" Draco called after her, before she disappeared behind the door.

Draco and Hermione exchanged confused and amused looks before returning to their flat.

* * *

Hermione sat beside Draco on the couch, making herself comfortable and leaning against his chest. He automatically put his arm around her. That became a routine of theirs. It seemed like both of them needed some human contact, and it just so happened, they were there for each other. So every evening, they sat on their couch in front of the TV and watches silly sitcoms, enjoying each other's closeness.

"So whatever happened to that girl you went out with?" Hermione asked suddenly. It was more than a week since Draco's date.

"I think she got the impression, you and me are involved with each other." The boy ignored Hermione's short burst of laughter and continued "She yelled something along the lines of 'she's pregnant, how can you be so cruel and date other people', slapped me in the face and now she's not speaking to me."

Hermione started laughing even harder.

"She slapped you?" she managed to say in between the fit of giggles.

"Yeah," Draco chuckled "She didn't even give me a chance to explain. She just assumed, that I'm a dick."

Hermione's laughter stopped abruptly and she stilled for a moment. Draco moved nervously behind her.

"Granger?" He was worried, she could hear that, but at that moment, she was focused on the fluttering sensation in her belly. She felt something similar a couple of times during the past week, but never that hard. She knew what that was. A huge grin appeared on her lips. She slowly turned towards Malfoy and without a word, she grabbed his hand and put it on her stomach.

"What are you…"

"Shut up and wait," Hermione cut him off. After what seemed to be ages, she felt another the strong flutter. Her eyes snapped to Malfoy's "Did you feel that?"

"Yes." He looked at her with excitement mixed with slight fear "Did it just…"

"Kicked," Hermione finished for him "The baby's kicking." She was so happy, she launched herself at the blonde, hugging him tightly. Malfoy was surprised by her joyous attack and was toppled to his back by the girl's weight. He hugged her back, now laughing with her. After a moment, Hermione raised her head and looked at Malfoy.

"Don't you feel like you have an alien inside you?" the blonde asked, sending her a crooked smile.

"Maybe a little. But it's my tiny alien," Hermione said. She felt Draco's hand move slightly down her back. His face suddenly changed and Hermione was fascinated with the look in his eyes. His grey pools darkened and he gazed at her in a way, that made her feel… wanted. She felt his chest rising and falling under her body faster and faster with every passing second. She swallowed a lump in her throat. It seemed like he did the same thing, because she saw his adam's apple move. One of his hands left her back and cupped the side of her face. It was like he was hypnotized.

"Draco…" Hermione whispered, but the rest of the sentence was lost, because his lips crashed into hers. A soft whimper of surprise escaped Hermione's lips, but it was mostly muffled by Draco's mouth. She felt him nip her lower lip and shuddered. He immediately replaced his teeth with his hot tongue, running it along the seam of Hermione's mouth, asking for entrance. She parted her lips, allowing him access and whimpered again, when his tongue invaded her mouth, exploring and tasting it. She was out of breath, but she didn't want to break away from Draco. Not yet. She was lost in the sensation and the pleasure of him holding her tightly and caressing her tongue with his. Suddenly, when he groaned in a way that made her head spin, she moved away from him, her eyes wide. Draco had a similar expression on his face. Hermione jumped up.

"I'm… I think I'm tired," she stammered and almost ran to her room.

* * *

Draco was lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. What the fuck was he thinking when he kissed her? She just looked at him the way only Hermione ever looked at him, and he lost it. But she kissed back. Why did she kiss him back? God, but she tasted so good. And those little noises... 'No! Don't you go there.' he scolded himself in his mind. Draco growled, angry at himself and got out of his bed. A moment later, he was standing in front of Hermione's room, gathering the courage to knock on the door. And after a few minutes, he did.

"Hermione?" Draco called, knocking quietly. After what seemed like a lifetime, the door opened a little, Hermione's face appearing in the crack. "Can we talk?"

She merely nodded her head, letting Draco into her room. They sat on the opposite sides of Hermione's bed for a short while, before Draco spoke:

"I'm sorry… About earlier."

"It's fine. Really," she said, her brows drew together.

"No, it's not fine. We're friends, Hermione," Draco responded, running his fingers through his platinum blond hair "We can't just go around, kissing each other. I don't want to ruin what we have. You're one of three people in my life, that I trust. And I'm a better person around you. We need each other as friends, we can't turn this into anything else."

"Who said anything about turning this into something other than friendship, stupid?" Draco's head snapped up. Hermione was looking at him with an odd expression on her face, one brow cocked. "I'll admit, that was one damn good kiss, but it didn't make me instantly fall in love with you or anything."

"It's just the way you ran away afterwards…" Draco said, eyeing Hermione suspiciously.

"You surprised me," she said matter-of-factly.

"Right back at ya! I thought you would slap me in the face after doing such a thing," Draco grumbled.

"Okay, let's just agree, that there will be no more kissing then. Just friends." Draco could see her eyes sparkling with amusement.

"No kissing," Draco said and they shook on it. Still holding Hermione's hand in his, he groaned with annoyance"

"Aw, shit."

"What?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I wanna kiss you now," he said, sending her his go-to smirk.

"Go away," Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes. So he left.

* * *

Hermione let out a shaky breath out of her lungs and opened the door to the flat. This was bad. Really, really bad. Draco was sitting on the couch, going through some letters

"How'd it go?" he asked, lifting his eyes from a piece of parchment he was holding in his hand to Hermione.

"It was… I...I might have done something… horrible," Hermione stammered.

"What, you killed the Weasel?," the blonde tried joking, but he looked worried.

"Actually, he wasn't even there," the girl started explaining "It was me, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the twins, Charlie and Ginny. Mrs. Weasley was scolding me for about half an hour for not telling her about the pregnancy sooner. And then she repeated to me what Ron had told her."

"Which was?" Draco's brows drew together.

"That we broke up a long time ago and he has no idea who knocked me up," Hermione's vision became blurry as her eyes teared up.

"I'm going to murder that little…" Malfoy started muttering, but was cut off by Hermione's quiet sobbing.

"And then they all started asking me who the father is. And I panicked. And… and…" Hermione had to muster all the courage she had and finished "And I told them it was you."

"You _what_?!" Malfoy jumped out of his seat on the couch and was suddenly standing right in front of Hermione. The girl flinched a little, startled by the boy's outburst, which made him raise his hands in an appeasing gesture "I'm not yelling. Not yelling. But what the fuck, Hermione? I'm your baby daddy now?"

"I'm sorry," Hermione cried out "I panicked! And yours was the first name that came to my mind. "

"Well, I'm flattered, but you should have made something better up."

"I panicked!" Hermione sobbed, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Come on, don't cry," Draco sighed, attempting to bring her in for a hug, but Hermione just swatted his hand away. She tried to say something, but all that came out were more sobs. "I overreacted, don't cry, Hermione."

"I'm sorry," the brunette managed to say finally "I know that you probably are worried about what people will say, because I'm a muggleborn and all."

"Is that what you think?" Draco asked, surprised "I don't give two shits about that. I'm worried about what people will think about _you_. I'm a Death Eater, Hermione. People are disgusted when they see me. They're afraid and think that I should be rotting away in Azkaban, and they're right. You know the other side of me, but others still think of me as Blood Puritist and a criminal. And you told people, you're pregnant with my child."

Hermione looked at Malfoy with a mixture of shock and embarrassment on her face.

"Well, I don't think about you that way. And if anyone dares to call you a criminal, I'll make them see you differently," she said, her voice strong and confident. Draco cupped the sides of Hermione's face and gazed at her, wide-eyed.

"Why?" he whispered, lowering his face a few millimeters.

"Because you don't deserve to be treated that way. And I don't care if people will think I lost my mind, I will tell them that you're a decent person and this baby is yours," Hermione responded as Malfoy's face was still getting closer to hers, of which the blonde seemed unaware of. "An ex-Death Eater, who turned out to be fairly alright is still a better option to me, than the actual git of the father, who ran away and never looked back."

Draco's face was dangerously close to Hermione's, and he was still cupping the sides of her head and was staring at her. Hermione could feel the warmth of his body and smell his familiar scent. Draco leaned in even more.

"Don't," Hermione whispered so quietly, she wasn't sure he even heard her. But he must have, because he stilled, his face extremely close to hers. Suddenly, Draco stepped away from Hermione.

"Right," he said after clearing his throat. Malfoy ran his fingers through his hair and walked towards the couch. There, he once again gathered his letters and hid behind the parchment, pretending as if nothing happened.

* * *

Hermione's eyes flew open when she heard Malfoy's bloodcurdling scream. Within seconds, she was out of her own bed and kneeling on the side of his. He was tossing around and screaming like he was being tortured. She grabbed his arm tightly and started tugging him awake. She had never seen Draco like that. He sat up in his bed and looked around confused.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, reaching up and stroking his blonde hair.

"Yeah," he answered, grabbing his left forearm as if he was in pain. Hermione's eyes followed that movement. He was holding his Dark Mark.

"Does it hurt?" she whispered and got up from the floor and sat beside Draco. He just nodded his head. Hermione's hand joined Draco's on his forearm.

"Your hands are cold," he sighed, dropping his head back and resting it on the headboard. "It's helping."

Upon hearing that Hermione swatted away Malfoy's hand from the Mark and replaced it with her other one. The skin covering the Mark was indeed hot. 'Thanks Merlin for bad blood circulation,' Hermione thought, running her palms along the Mark.

"You wanna talk about it?" she asked quietly.

"No," Malfoy responded quickly. He looked at her for some time and then asked "I'm sorry if I scared you."

"That's alright," Hermione said, sending him a faint smile. Draco relaxed slightly and eyed her carefully before scooting away a bit. Hermione understood the movement right away. He was making space for her, so she could sit next to him. So she did. Draco instantly encircled Hermione with his arm, bringing her closer. The brunette placed the boy's forearm on her lap, still running her palms and fingertips on top of the scarred part of his body.

"I would have never suspected Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Prince of being a so fond of cuddling," Hermione laughed, hoping it would distract Malfoy from the nightmare he just had.

"Everyone needs some human contact from time to time, Granger," Draco sighed "Besides, you smell nice. It's calming."

"Did you just tell me I _smell nice_?" Hermione snickered, finding the vision of Malfoy smelling her very amusing.

"Shut up," he chuckled.

They stayed like that for a few long moments. Just enjoying being close to each other. But Hermione's heart was beating faster and faster. She wanted more than an innocent hug. She wanted to feel Draco's lips on hers. She wanted to put her hands on his hard, ridiculously toned chest. She wanted to know how his body would feel under her fingers. 'Damn those pregnancy hormones to Hell,' she thought. Hermione's breath hitched when she felt Draco's left hand, that was motionlessly resting on her lap up to this point, touch her knee and then move up, to her thigh.

"I was wondering," Draco said, while his hand continued its travel "how strongly do you feel about this friendship thing between us, exactly?"

"I… What?" Hermione was unable to think. His touch was distracting and on top of that she was fighting the moan that was trying to escape her mouth, caused by this torturously small amount of contact.

"Because," Draco continued, choosing to ignore the girl's inability to focus "even though we had that conversation… I guess what I'm trying to say is, it would be weird if you thought of me as your best friend, almost a brother. Because I find myself wanting to kiss you everytime I look at you." Draco's eyes found Hermione's.

"Oh, you have nothing to worry about," Hermione's brain started working again "You becoming my best friend is highly unlikely." She send him a smirk, that resembled the one that appeared on Draco's face so often.

"Good," the blonde said, a predatory look flashing in his eyes. He quickly closed the distance between them.

Hermione sighed when she felt Draco's lips on hers. He wasted no time and run his tongue along the seam of Hermione's mouth, asking for access. She happily granted him entrance and parted her lips. The feeling of his tongue brushing against hers made her shiver. They explored and enjoyed tasting each other's mouths. Wanting to be closer, Hermione climbed on top of Draco's lap, straddling him. Her movement was met with a groan from the blonde. She smiled mischievously into his mouth when his hands traveled from Hermione's back to her bum, squeezing it. Hermione rolled her hips, creating pleasant friction. Draco groaned again, this time it meant to be a warning.

"Granger, you better stop doing that if you want to leave this room tonight," he growled when he broke the kiss.

"Doing what?" she asked innocently and ground her hips against his again. Draco merely chuckled and Hermione started kissing along his jawline, then his neck, nibbling and licking the delicate skin. While she did that, one of Draco's hands left her bum and started fumbling with the hem of her t-shirt, soon, slipping under it and caressing the skin on her sides. Hermione wasn't so subtle and simply raised Draco's t-shirt until it was off.

"So eager to get me naked, Granger?" the blonde teased. His hand was roaming close to her breast under her shirt.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Hermione said, smiling into his lips and resuming their kiss. Her hands traveled up and down his chest. She could feel his tensed muscles and a long thin scar running across the middle of his chest, probably the result of the Sectumsempra curse that hit him during their sixth year at Hogwarts.

Hermione almost sighed with disappointment when Draco broke away from her, but he simply discarded of her t-shirt and started planting kissed on her neck, slightly biting the skin there from time to time. When he sucked the skin above her pulse she moaned quietly and rolled her hips again. Hermione felt Draco's arms tighten around her and suddenly she found herself lying on her back and the blonde above her. In that moment Hermione was lost in the feeling of their skin touching and his lips and hands on her body. She turned her brain off and gave herself away to pleasure.

* * *

Hermione's head was resting on Draco's chest. He was still desperately trying to calm his breathing down. The blonde was absentmindedly tracing patterns along the girl's spine and she was stroking his abdomen with her fingertips.

"You're loud," he finally managed to say, laughing quietly "I like it."

"So are you," she retorted, lifting her head and looking at him.

"I am most certainly not!" Draco huffed. She rolled her eyes and said:

"Oh, please. You were growling and groaning." She send him a wide smile. "I very much liked those sounds," she said and planted a few soft kissed on his chest. He saw her expression change when her lips met the scar on his chest. It was little darker than the rest of his skin, but with Draco's pale complexion even the slightest discoloration was easily visible. Hermione traced her index finger along the long scar that ran diagonally across his chest.

"Why didn't it fade?" she asked quietly.

"It's a powerful curse. Pomfrey and Snape the best they could with what they had, but the deepest wound was extremely stubborn," Draco answered, shrugging his shoulders. "It doesn't really bother me anymore."

Hermione just nodded her head, not saying anything, but she stopped touching the scar and instead, she rested her head on his chest again.

* * *

When Draco woke up, Hermione was gone. He reached for his watch and groaned when he saw the time. It was a little after six in the morning. 'What is it with this woman and getting up on such ungodly hours?' Draco though and rolled out of his bed. He found Hermione in the kitchen, fumbling with something on the counter. He never thought he would admit that, but Hermione looked perfect with her messy curls that looked like they had a life of their own. He sneaked up behind her and slowly snaked his arms around her waist. She yelped quietly in surprize.

"Good morning," Draco said, his lips close to Hermione's ear and his voice still husky from sleep.

"Morning," she muttered in response.

"Now, why are you out of the bed?" Draco started kissing her neck and Hermione stiffened in his arms.

"Draco... " she said and tried wriggling out of his grip, but he simply held her tighter and kept planting soft kisses on her neck and jaw "Draco, we're not doing that."

"Well, not this moment. Give me a few minutes," Draco teased. Hermione somehow managed to peel the blonde's arms away from her and turned to face him. Or rather to face his chest, since she was much shorter than him. Draco took a small step back, giving her an odd look and asked:

"What is it?" Hermione found his eyes and quickly looked away. A big lump started forming in the blonde's throat. Something was wrong.

"We…Last night...I was hormonal and you... That shouldn't have happened, Draco," Hermione sputtered, still avoiding his eyes.

"Why?" Draco ignored the sinking feeling in his stomach and pressed on "We're both adults. We have… We like each other."

"That's… It's more complicated than that," Hermione said, finally locking eyes with him.

"What's so complicated about it?"

"I'm pregnant!" she stated, her voice hard and something resembling anger flickering in her chocolate brown eyes "I'm going to have a baby in about four months. I can't start anything with you now. Or even after that."

"I… What does that even mean?" Draco didn't expect that. He was starting to feel panic rising inside.

"You don't want all of that, Draco," she almost whispered.

"You have no idea about what I want," Draco narrowed his eyes at her, which resulted in Hermione folding her hands into fists.

"So what, you mean to tell me that you want to be stuck with me and a baby that isn't even yours?" Hermione's voice was trembling, which meant she was probably trying not to yell "Why the hell would you want that?"

"It's called 'having feelings for someone', Granger!" Draco snapped at her, unable to stop himself. Hermione blinked a few times, taken aback and then she snapped back at Draco:

"You don't have feelings for me!"

"Oh, but I do," he responded, trying to calm himself.

"No. You can't."

"And why is that? I'm not Weasley, you know. I won't run away when things get a little bit difficult, Hermione," Draco said, stepping forward and trying to hold her, but she moved away from him. Seeing her do that felt like being stabbed in the heart.

"Don't bring him into this." She took a deep breath and continued "You can't have feelings for me, because… Well, because you're… you."

"So that's it. All that bullshit about how you know I've changed, and now you just reject me, because I'm the big, bad, mean Death Eater," Draco hissed. For a second Hermione looked hurt, but then she just shook her head at his words and said:

"Well, you most certainly wouldn't start a relationship with a Mudblood."

"You…" Draco felt defeated. He had no idea how to talk to her anymore.

"This was a mistake. All of this. Just a huge mistake. We should've never let it go so far. We shouldn't even be living together," Hermione mumbled.

"As you wish," Draco hissed and quickly disappeared into his room, leaving confused Hermione in the kitchen. Draco waved his wand, casting a nonverbal spell. His travel suitcase packed itself while the blonde dressed in a hurry. He was furious. He knew he would probably regret doing it, but when he was ready and all of his necessities were packed, he stormed out of his room and out of the apartment. Granger called after him, but he ignored her. He was no mistake.

* * *

Hermione sighed when she heard tapping on the window. She felt like a whale every time she had to stand up. She carefully maneuvered between the couch and the coffee and waddled to the kitchen window, where a toffee coloured owl was growing inpatient. Hermione opened the window and let the bird in. The owl hooted at her in a scolding fashion and extended its leg towards her. Hermione untied the lavender coloured envelope from the bird's leg and opened it. Hermione's eyes almost fell out of her sockets when she read:

" _Lavender Brown and Ronald Weasley are honoured to invite you to their wedding on December 23rd._ "

'You've got to be fucking kidding me," Hermione thought.

* * *

"Coming, coming!" Hermione yelled towards the door to her apartment. It took her a moment before she hoisted herself up from the couch. She swung the door open and was truly surprised by the person standing in front of her.

"Ron?"

"Hi, Hermione," he greeted her, eyeing her pregnant belly. Hermione's brows drew together. "I'll be quick. I suppose you got the invitation. I'm here to… Please, don't say anything to Lav."

"Ginny wrote to me," Hermione said, ignoring Ron's words "She said it's sort of a… What do you call it… Ah, yes. A shotgun wedding." Hermione folded her arms on her chest, looking at the redhead like he was a cockroach.

"You could say that," he responded quietly. At least he had the decency to be ashamed by that.

"So you want me to come to your wedding, endure pregnant Lavender and keep quiet on top of all that?" Hermione hissed.

"Please?"

"You're unbelievable," the brunette almost laughed.

"You've already told people Malfoy knocked you up," Ron said "What's the difference?" At the mention of Draco Hermione felt guilty again. It's been a month since he left. And frankly, it's been the worst, most lonely month in Hermione's life. "Where's the ferret, anyway?"

"None of your business, Ron," Hermione retorted and the redhead just shrugged his shoulders. "Fine. I won't say anything."

"Thanks," Ron said and turned on his heel, walking towards the building's exit. Hermione waddled behind him, stopping at the top of few steps that led to the front door.

"But I will warn you, I'll be nine months pregnant then. I'll be unbearable, and you'll have to deal with it," Hermione said. Ron just looked at her as if she were crazy "And you can tell Lavender, that she'll still look bloated in her wedding dress, no matter how many glamour charms she uses."

Hermione wanted to turn on her heel and disappear into her apartment, but she lost her balance. The only thing she managed to do, as she fell backwards, was to gasp.

* * *

A/N: So, so, so sorry for taking so long with this chapter. I would have posted it sooner if my migraines didn't try to kill me, but no excuses. So I had many issues when it came to writing the sex scene. I've written like four versions of it and finally settled on the one where everything is left to the imagination, because the other ones just pissed me off. So, sorry for no lemons, but I'm simply not ready for writing them.

Hope you liked the chapter. As always, reading the reviews gets me going and seeing all the people who followed and favourited melts my little heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The next chapter should be posted in one or two weeks, so keep an eye out for it! One last time, thank you for reading!


	3. Third trimester

Draco Floo'd to St. Mungo's and nearly split his head open on the low hanging top of the fireplace. The only thing that saved him from an injury were his quick reflexes. He did not care that people looked at him as if he were a crazy person, he sprinted down the hospital hallway, trying to get to the emergency care wing as quickly as possible. After what seemed like ages of searching, he found the right corridor. How did he know he was in the right place? He deduced he reached his destination when he saw Wesley's red hair. Suddenly Draco felt a wave of fury wash over him. He quickly grabbed Weasley by the front of his robes and smashed him into the nearest wall.

"What the fuck did you do?" the blonde hissed.

"I didn't…" the redhead sputtered before Draco heard a door behind him open. He turned his head back to see what was happening and met Potter's angry gaze.

"I think that's enough, Malfoy" the bespectacled boy said "Go ahead, she's waiting for you and she refuses to let me take her home."

Draco didn't need any convincing. He let go of Weasley and walked towards Hermione's room, but before he closed the door behind him, he growled towards the redhead:

"I'm not finished with you."

* * *

When Hermione heard Draco voice just outside the door she suddenly felt extremely nervous. 'He came. What if he hates me. Oh, Merlin,' she thought. When he walked into the room she felt her heart drop. In an instant he was by her bedside.

"What happened? Are you alright? Is the baby alright? I'm going to murder Weasley and I'm going to make it slow and and painful…" he started rambling. Hermione never heard him do that. He always seemed so collected or smug. That was different.

"There's no need for bloodshed, Draco. The baby and I are perfectly fine. It was my fault, really." Hermione raised her hand in a quieting motion when she saw Draco wanted to chime in, which made him close his mouth. "I was being clumsy and didn't realise how much my center of gravity has changed. I was actually lucky he was there, because he got me here immediately."

"You fell down the stairs! And he…" Draco started yelling, his hand gesturing quickly, but Hermione cut him off.

"It was three small steps, Malfoy." The blonde tried to say something else but was again interrupted. This time by a Healer, who coughed quietly to bring the pair's attention towards her. She seemed perfectly fine with just standing there while they fought.

"You must be the famous Draco everyone in this room keeps talking about," the Healer said, sending him a cheerful smile "I'm Healer Clark. I admitted Miss Granger and examined her." the Healer came closer to Hermione's bed and whipped up her chart from behind her back. Draco gave her an impatient look. "Just like Miss Granger said, both she and the baby are fine. But, three steps or not, she did take a tumble. I checked on the baby and didn't find anything wrong whatsoever. Miss Granger however will need a few days to recover. She has a bruised tailbone and a little bump on the back of her head. She was lucky. Other than that, both of them are perfectly fine. And..." the woman looked at the chart in her hand and then at the watch on her wrist "And since it's after midnight already, you are officially in your third trimester. Almost there, eh?" Healer Clark send them one last cheerful smile before turning away. But before she left she said "You guys can go ahead and get ready to leave. I trust Miss Granger will be well taken care of at home." And just like that, Healer Clark was gone.

"See? We're fine. Now get me out of here," Hermione mumbled, trying to prop herself up with her arms and elbows to sit, but was unsuccessful. Besides, when she wriggled like that, her backside hurt. She needed help. But Draco just stared at her, not saying anything and not moving. He didn't even seem to blink. He just gazed at Hermione. "What?" she asked.

"You scared me. Again," he finally said. He looked at Hermione for another moment before falling to his knees by the side of her bed. "I'm so sorry. I was such an idiot. I never should have left like that. But I was so angry… And then I was just embarrassed… I was such an idiot." Draco was holding Hermione's hand tightly and she simply squeezed back.

"Let's just say we were both idiots. I've said some things…" Hermione said, breaking the eye contact. "Maybe we could talk about it at home?" she asked hopefully. She really wanted him to come back. And Hermione knew she would have to get over herself and admit to both Draco and herself, that she missed him so damn much.

"Um… Sure," Draco mumbled. He was still kneeling by Hermione's bed and seemed a little confused. He probably expected her to be furious with him. A few seconds passed and he finally collected himself, getting up from his knees and offering a helping hand to Hermione. "So, Potter finally decided to show up, huh?" Draco said, pulling Hermione up carefully. "I can only imagine all the horrible things he had to say about me."

"Actually, Harry was just pissed at Ron. They're not really speaking to each other right now. Harry apparated here from Germany, where he was on a mission, after Ron send him a patronus, saying that I'm hurt, because he didn't trust Ron at all. He wasn't happy when I asked him to contact you, but he didn't say much about you." When she sat up, she winced in pain. Her backside certainly took a hit. Hermione carefully lowered her feet to the floor and slowly stood up. Only after she wobbled towards the pile of her clothes on top of the little side table, she noticed Draco was staring at her again.

"Would you stop gawking already?" Hermione huffed in irritation.

"That baby is growing fast," he said, stepping closer to her and handing Hermione her shirt.

"Well, what else did you expect to see after more than a month?" Hermione grumbled. "I'm only going to get bigger and bigger."

Draco fell silent. He was probably afraid he would say something that would offend her and decided to play it safe. With Draco's help, Hermione was ready and out of St. Mungo's in no time.

* * *

"If my memory serves me right, we were supposed to talk," Draco said, collapsing onto the couch in the flat.

"Okay," Hermione responded and sat beside him "Then talk."

"I'm sorry, Hermione," the blonde started "I'm not very good when it comes to expressing my feelings. And the things you said… I felt rejected. I've never been rejected before, Hermione. And it was even worse, because… Well, because it's you, Granger. And I'm not letting you go that easily. I'm not giving up. But I had to sort out my feelings and think it all through. And I'm sorry I left. I can pack up all my things tonight and be out of here, but you have to know, I won't stop taking care of you or trying to court you. Because I most certainly will not stop having feeling for you any time soon." These words fell out of his mouth quickly. He was afraid that if he took his time with that short speech, which he rehearsed in his head at least twenty times before they apparated to the flat, Hermione would interrupt him.

She gazed at him for a while before she asked:

"Why do you want to move out again?"

"I… I thought you wouldn't want me here after that," Draco answered. He was confused. "You don't want me to go?"

"Of course not, stupid!" Hermione huffed "I was going crazy without you here. I was being an idiot. I should never said those things. I never wanted to hurt you." She looked down and stared at her hands resting on her lap, as if she was ashamed of her behaviour. "I… I didn't know you cared so much. But you showed up tonight. And I could see the worry in your eyes. You care about me. You care about the baby. And while you were gone I realised something." Hermione's eyes found Draco's again "I hurt you, because I was afraid to admit that I _do_ have feelings for you. And that they've been there for a while."

Draco looked at her for a moment, his expression blank. But then a huge grin appeared on his face.

"Hermione Granger, are you saying that you might consider being in a relationship with a Slytherin?" He looked so pleased with himself and… Well, smug. It was such a Malfoy look.

"And he's back," Hermione laughed. "For a moment your soft side was showing there."

"You didn't answer my question." His grin fell slightly and turned into his favorite smirk.

"I wouldn't be opposed to a relationship."

"So… We're really doing this? We're going steady? You and me? Us?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and shifted on the couch. She grabbed the back of Draco's neck, brought his face to hers and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. Well, it was soft at first, before Draco leaned in even closer and deepened the kiss. Hermione broke away before their kiss got out of control and said:

"Does that answer your questions?" Draco just nodded his head and brought the wide grin back to his face.

* * *

Hermione was tired with shopping. She wandered around the shop, looking at the colourful baby clothes and an assortment of bottles. They all looked the same to her, but after reading a few different labels, she was even more confused. Draco disappeared somewhere almost immediately after they walked inside the store. He mumbled something about taking a look at something and he was gone. Hermione sighed and grabbed a few more tiniest onesies she ever laid her eyes upon. She decided on more neutral colors like yellow and white. Then she saw tiny socks and her heart almost melted. She started picking out some when she heard a loud gasp from the other side of the shelf.

"Oh, my Merlin!" a familiar voice said "Is that Malfoy? What the hell is he doing here? Isn't it bad enough he's not in Azkaban, now he has to be creeping around the places where people bring their children?"

Hermione walked around the shelf, feeling her irritation grow. She saw two familiar frames standing in front of her.

"I think I don't want to shop here anymore, Parvati." Said another familiar voice. The two women turned around to leave, but instead they met Hermione's angry scowl.

"You know, Lavender, if he's not in Azkaban, that probably means he's innocent," Hermione growled "He wasn't found guilty by the Wizengamot. You two have no right to accuse him of anything."

"Hello, Hermione," Parvati said, forcing a smile on her face "Oh, so it's true? You're having a baby. Congrats."

"Thanks," Hermione mumbled. She tried not to look at Lavender too much. She was afraid something mean would slip out of her mouth. But Lavender was standing there silently, which was extremely suspicious. That girls never shut up. But there she was, not saying anything and looking at Hermione with wide eyes. Her eyes were jumping from Hermione's face to her belly.

"Hello, ladies," Hermione suddenly heard Draco's voice behind her. The brunette decided to ignore Lavender's weird behaviour and turned to Draco instead. He was holding a few teddy bears and a big stuffed dragon in his arms. Hermione almost bursted out laughing upon seeing that. He looked so out of place. On top of that, the murderous look he was sending in Lavender's direction, made it even funnier. Luckily, Hermione was able to stop herself from laughing.

Draco grabbed Hermione's hand and hauled her towards the front of the store, leaving the two shocked girls behind.

* * *

"Are you sure you like that crib?" Draco asked again, worried "We can always return it and you can pick something else out. But you said that all this shopping overwhelmed you, so I thought I would surprise you and…"

"Draco, stop. I love it. It's perfect," Hermione assured him. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand slightly. "And about that huge dragon you bought…"

"Hermione!" they heard someone call out after them. She and Draco turned around to see Lavender Brown making her way towards them. Draco stiffened. He was expecting something bad would happen.

"What is it, Lavender?" Hermione sighed.

"I… I think we need to talk," Brown said, stopping in front of Hermione. "Um… How far along are you, Hermione?"

"Er… Eight months in a few days." Hermione was confused "Why?"

Lavender took a deep, shaky breath and blurted out:

"It's Ron's, isn't it?"

Hermione just stared at the short blonde. Draco wanted to do something, but then Lavender started speaking again:

"I know it is. He keeps telling me you cheated on him, but I don't believe him." Brown wiped a single tear rolling down her cheek. "You know, he wanted to leave me after we found out about my pregnancy. But he didn't. Only because I already told his mother."

"Lavender, I…" Hermione tried to say, but Brown cut her off.

"You have to tell the truth to the Weasleys, Hermione. At least tell Molly. She loves you just as much as she loves her children. And the things Ron says about you… I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but you should tell the truth. I know you're always trying to do right by everyone else, but this time you have to do right by yourself and stop protecting him. Ron… He changed after the war. He's… He's not _Ron_ anymore." Lavender sent Hermione a sad smile. "Talk to Molly, Hermione. Don't let him bully you too. Tell the truth and make him pay." Lavender sniffled, turned on her heel and started walking away.

Hermione stood there, shocked. Draco encircled her arms with one of his and made her move. While they slowly walked through the Diagon Alley, Hermione whispered:

"She's right, isn't she?"

"She most definitely is, love," Draco said, hugging her tighter.

* * *

"I'm so sorry, Hermione, sweetie," Mrs. Weasley said when Hermione and Draco arrived at the Burrow on a Sunday afternoon. "I had no idea Ron and Lavender would be here today."

"That's alright, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione tried assuring the woman.

"What can I do to help, Mrs. Weasley?" Draco asked suddenly, trying to distract the redhead woman from Hermione's awkward smile. Mrs. Weasley blinked at the blonde a few times, surprised by his eagerness to help before answering:

"Oh, don't be silly, Mr. Malfoy. You're a guest."

"Please, call me Draco. When people call me 'Mr. Malfoy' I think of my father, and that's something I try to avoid," Draco said quickly, sending Mrs. Weasley a shy smile. The woman nodded her head, her eyes full of understanding.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were very nice to Draco, which calmed Hermione down. This was the first time she brought her boyfriend to the Burrow for the Sunday dinner. The younger members of the Weasley clan were more reserved towards him. Although the twins soon started poking fun at Draco, reminding everyone the time Hermione hit him in their third year at Hogwarts. To Hermione's surprise, Draco joked with them and even made fun of himself. When everyone sat at the table and started eating, Hermione was unable to not notice Ron's hateful glares towards the blonde and Lavender's impatient looks towards her. Hermione was aware Lavender wanted her to talk to Molly, but with Ron there, she was even more scared. After the dinner was finished and everyone left the table, Hermione saw her chance. She mustered all the courage she had and whispered to Draco:

"Distract him."

"Hey, Weasel, how's that nose?" Draco teased Ron, bringing his attention from Hermione to himself.

Hermione darted back to the kitchen to speak to Mrs. Weasley.

* * *

"Ronald Weasley!" Mrs. Weasley screeched, still crying. The woman stomped to the living room, where most of the Weasleys, along with Draco and Lavender, sat. Hermione was walking behind Molly, hiding from everyone's gaze "How _dare_ you lie to me like that?! You _left_ her?! You left her _and your baby_?! This is unacceptable!"

Draco was by Hermione's side in a blink of an eye, his hand on the small of her back. Mrs. Weasley was still yelling at her youngest son, Lavender was hiding in the armchair in the corner of the living room and everyone else was looking at the scene with wide eyes and open mouths.

Suddenly Ron jumped up from his chair, walked around his furious mother and charger towards Hermione, screaming:

"You bitch!"

Draco stood slightly behind her, but when he saw Ron's raised hand, ready to hit, he acted quickly. One of Draco's hands gripped Ron's wrist tightly, stopping it, and the other grabbed his pinky and in a quick motion snapped it sideways. Hermione felt sick when she heard the sound of a snapping bone and didn't want to look at the damage. The Burrow felt silent for a few seconds and only Ron's pained cries could be heard. Then Draco, still standing close to Hermione, while straightening his black button up, said in a calm but dangerous tone:

"If you raise your hand at my girlfriend again, I'm gonna break every single bone in your body."

Everyone's eyes fell to Ron, who was kneeling on the floor in front of Draco, gripping his hand in pain.

"H-Hermione, dear…" Mrs. Weasley stuttered "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Hermione said, still shaken. "I think we should leave now."

"Of course, of course… I'm so sorry, honey," Mrs. Weasley said, walking around her injured son, not even glancing at him, walking Draco and Hermione out to the back door.

Before they walked out, Draco stopped and said:

"I'm sorry for causing you inconvenience by breaking your son's finger, Mrs. Weasley."

"That's fine, Draco," Mrs. Weasley responded, before adding slightly louder, so that Ron could hear her "He deserved it."

* * *

"So, Ginny's disappointed that she didn't get to see you breaking Ron's finger," Hermione said, and giggled to herself while putting the letter she just read back on the kitchen counter, right next to her mug filled with tea. "She also says that since Lavender and Ron's wedding is cancelled, he'll probably be in the Burrow for Christmas, but we're still invited. Well, I guess that's not happening."

"Hermione…" Draco said quietly from behind her.

"Maybe I'll just stay here for Christmas, then."

"Hermione."

"You'll probably want to be with your mother. And even if she agreed to spending time with me, I'm not stepping into that manor ever again, so…"

"Hermione, would you please shut up and turn around already?" Draco hissed. The brunette faced her boyfriend and almost choked on the air she was currently breathing in. He was down on one knee, right before her, glaring at her angrily.

"I'm telling you woman, you're so…"

"What are you doing?" Hermione cut him off, her voice unusually high pitched. He was still kneeling.

"Well, if you would just let me speak, you would find out." Draco cleared his throat and continued "I don't have a ring for you yet, but… Hermione Granger, will…"

"No!" Hermione cut him off again.

"No?" Draco asked, blinking rapidly and his expression falling.

"I mean, don't ask," Hermione followed quickly "Don't say it."

"But… Why?"

"Draco…" Hermione looked at him and realised he was still on one knee "Please get up."

"Why can't I propose to you?" he asked when he was back on his two feet and running his hand through his hair nervously.

"Why on Earth were you trying to propose in the first place?" Hermione asked, stepping closer to him and cupping his cheek.

"I… You have to promise you won't laugh," Draco said, placing his hand on top of Hermione's on his cheek.

"I won't. Promise."

"Well," he started "I thought… Since the baby is going to be here soon, I wanted to show you that I'm with you all the way and that I'm not going anywhere. Because I _want_ this. _All_ of this. I love you Hermione. And I love this baby, even though it's not even born yet. Even though it isn't even _mine_. I still love it to death. And, if you let me, it would be an honour for me to be its father. And I can't imagine my life without you anymore." Draco was speaking fast, holding Hermione's gaze, to make sure she wasn't going to interrupt him "You've ruined my life, Granger. I was perfectly fine hating you, and then you've made me fall in love with you. And now you've made me want to raise that kid with you. I've watched you puke your brains out…"

"Hey!" Hermione protested, but Draco ignored her.

"I've watched you get rounder and rounder each week…"

"I'm gonna punch you." Hermione growled as she took a small step back, but he ignored her again.

"But to me, you're still the most beautiful woman in the whole world. And I can't imagine loving anyone else ever again. So, I was going to propose to you, because you've ruined my life in the best way possible."

"I love you too, Draco," Hermione said, stepping closer to him and putting both of her hands flat on his chest "And I know you love this baby. But you don't need to propose to prove anything to me. This is way too early for such a big step. And, frankly, all you have to do, is be here. Be the dad."

"You really want that?"

"I do."

"I really do love you, Granger," Draco said, lowering his head and burying his nose in Hermione's curls "And I'm going to marry you someday, woman. You can be sure of that."

"Yes, sir," Hermione chuckled.

* * *

"Are you absolutely sure about this, Draco?" Hermione asked her boyfriend for at least the tenth time, watching him from her place on the couch. "You could at least have a quick dinner with her. She's your mother. And it's Christmas. You should be with your family on Christmas."

"If she wasn't so stubborn, we could all be having a pleasant dinner right now," Draco sighed and finished plating their take-out. Chinese food was in no way a Christmas-like dinner, but Hermione wanted noodles for two days now. Besides, neither her or Draco seemed in particularly Christmassy moods. Hermione couldn't stand celebrating this holiday without her parents and their silly traditions. Draco on the other hand was still mad at his mother, who refused to leave the Malfoy Manor and have a dinner with them. "That woman, I swear… She knows perfectly well why you hate the Manor. She was there for Merlin's sake! She's infuriating!" Draco kept rambling on.

"Draco, you can still go," Hermione said quietly "I'll be fine. I would survive a few hours without you."

"I'm not leaving my very pregnant girlfriend alone on Christmas," the blonde huffed, setting their plates on the coffee table in front of the couch and sat down "Now, quit trying to kick me out and turn the stupid movie on."

Hermione rolled her eyes, but grabbed the remote and pressed the button.

Soon, they were both done with their food and halfway through some silly comedy. Hermione had her feet propped up on Draco's lap and the blonde took that opportunity to massage his girlfriend's slightly swollen calves. They both looked at each other confused when they heard three loud knocks at the door. Draco stood up, taking a few long steps towards the door and answered stood there for a couple of seconds before saying:

"Mother?"

"Hello, darling," Hermione heard Narcissa's cold tone "I brought pie."

Draco stepped to the side, letting his mother in. The woman walked into the apartment, looking around slowly until her eyes stopped on Hermione.

"Miss Granger," Narcissa politely nodded her head.

"Mrs. Malfoy," Hermione repeated the motion. Draco closed the door and slowly walked back towards the couch. Before he sat back down, he conjured a chair for his mother. They sat in silence for a few seconds before Narcissa started speaking:

"I like the apartment. It's very… cozy." The woman then looked Hermione in the eyes and said "I'd like to apologise for my behaviour. I shouldn't have insisted on you coming to the Manor. Especially after what happened to you there. "

"Thank you for understanding," Hermione responded. Narcissa looked so out of place in their apartment in her elegant dark robes and her serious expression.

"Did you decorate the nursery yet?" the woman asked suddenly.

"Y-yes," Hermione stammered "Would you like to see?"

"Please."

Draco just looked at the two women with wide eyes, shocked that they were able to exchange at least a few sentences.

Hermione got up from the couch, with a little of Draco's help and led the way to the nursery, which used to be Draco's old room. Narcissa looked around the room and nodded in approval.

"He asked me about that crib, you know," the blonde woman chuckled. The sound confused Hermione. That was the first time ever she saw Narcissa Malfoy even crack a smile, let alone _laugh_.

"So that's what happened," the brunette said, smiling politely.

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"

"Actually, i asked the Healer to keep it a secret. I want it to be a surprise." Hermione expected Narcissa to laugh at her or make a face, anything. But she simply raised one eyebrow slightly and smiled.

"That sounds nice."

"It does?" Hermione huffed.

"Yes, Hermione." Narcissa surprised her again, by grabbing her hand and holding it tightly. "I do hope you'll let me be a part of this baby's life. The way my Draco talks about you and that child… He told me how much he loves you both. I know Draco and you didn't conceive that baby together, but... He already feels like a father. And I already feel like a grandmother when I listen to him. I know I can be cold at times, but I would really love to become a part of your new family."

"You keep surprising me," Hermione admitted finally

"Yes, well… I did some thinking today, darling," Narcissa said, patting Hermione's hand a couple more times before releasing it "And i realised that my stubbornness would leave me all alone in that huge, dark manor some day. So I decided to step out of my comfort zone and finally talk to the woman my son wants to marry and raise a child with."

"And how did that go?" Draco spoke behind them, leaning against the door frame.

"Fine," Hermione and Narcissa said at the same time. At this point, Draco looked as if it were too much for him and sighed. Loudly.

* * *

Draco was pacing back and forth outside Hermione's room. He was terrified and tired, having slept only two hours that night. When Hermione's water broke, he panicked, even though they had a plan for when the baby would come. But this was too soon. Hermione wasn't due for the next two weeks.

Draco held her hand through the contractions and kissed her tears away when the Healer told her that things weren't progressing at the right pace and the natural birth was out of the picture. He also didn't argue when she asked him to wait outside while she was in surgery. He understood she wanted to do this on her own. But all this panic and feeling of being tired disappeared when the Healer opened the door, waving him in. Draco almost ran inside. Hermione was lying in her hospital bed, holding a little pink bundle.

"Draco," Hermione said quietly "I would like you to meet Emmy Granger."

The Healer helped them transfer the baby from Hermione's arms into Draco's. He was shaking. But as soon as he saw the smallest face he ever, all pink and wrinkled in the most adorable way, the whole world stopped existing. Draco laughed when he saw a few dark curls at the top of little Emmy's head.

"Thank Merlin, she's not a redhead," Draco mumbled.

"She's not a redhead," Hermione repeated, smiling.

He and Hermione laid next to each other in the hospital bed, holding the tiniest person they ever saw in their arms. Soon, Hermione fell asleep, exhausted, right after she fed her daughter. Emmy still seemed fussy, wriggling around and making little noises. So Draco did the only thing he could think of. He talked to her. His voice seemed to soothe her, so he told her the stories of her mother's adventures in Hogwarts and described how she once punched him in his beautiful face. In that moment, Draco Malfoy was truly happy. And the only thing that would make him even happier, would be if he could claim this little family officially as his own. And he promised little Emmy, that he would somehow convince her stubborn mother to finally let him do that.

* * *

A/N: Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited and reviewed! I know it's short, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Some of you weren't happy with Hermione in the last chapter and one person even called her a "stupid cow", which made me laugh so hard, because I already had plans for Lavender to ruin Ron's plans and convince Hermione she wasn't making the right decision (because, c'mon, Lav would be the last person we would expect to talk some sense into Hermione). I hope everyone thinks Ron got what he deserved ;)

Oh, I also uploaded the last chapter right away. It's kinda an epilogue that tells what happens later on, since I decided to go with dividing my story into trimesters.


	4. The new chapter

"Dad's home!" a four year-old with a head of brown curls, that were almost as big as her screamed, launching herself at the tall blonde. The man caught her in mid air and kissed her small forehead before looking into those beautiful dark blue eyes and asking:

"How was your day, little monster?" He carried his daughter towards the back of the house, where his wife probably was.

"I accidentally set Sammy's shoe on fire," the girl said, playing with Draco's tie.

"You sure it was an accident, Emmy?" Draco raised his brow at the child.

"He stepped on my barbie. But I didn't mean to burn his shoe," the little girl mumbled. "He didn't get hurt. Mommy helped him."

"Oh, thank Gods, you're home," Hermione sighed with relief when she saw him. The brunette pressed a sweet kiss onto Draco's lips, while Emmy scrunched up her nose at the affectionate action, mumbling something along the lines of 'You're always kissing'. When Hermione broke away from her husband, she said "If I have to extinguish any more fires today, I'll go crazy."

"Ah, yes. I've heard that Sammy is now short a shoe," Draco chuckled, setting Emmy down on the ground.

"Three kids unable to control their magic is too much for just me and Lavender," Hermione grumbled, as they sat on their back porch. Emmy was sitting in the middle of the small garden, playing with her guinea pig.

"Weasley didn't show up again," Draco asked, kissing Hermione's temple.

"Oh, he showed up. For like twenty minutes. He even brought peanut butter cookies."

"Aren't the twins…"

"Allergic. Yup. He forgot. Danny got really mad at him," Hermione said, shaking her head.

Lavender visited every month with her and Ron's twins - Sam and Dan. She and Hermione agreed to letting their children to be close and to tell them some day about how they are related to each other. Hermione also allowed Ron to visit with Lavender, but not as often, since Lav broke off their engagement. He showed up from time to time, always bringing some sweets, but he never stayed long. He got what he so desperately wanted - he had nothing to do with Emmy. At least legally. Hermione refused to put his name on her daughter's birth certificate or any other legal document. When Draco and Hermione got married, a year after Emmy's birth, Draco adopted the little girl, making her his daughter in the eyes of the law.

"You know," Draco said, wrapping his arms tighter around Hermione "I really am glad Emmy's your little clone. In fact, if it weren't for her blue eyes, she would be your exact copy."

"Yeah, well… Maybe this one will look like you."

"Mayb-... Wait, what?" Draco looked at his wife with wide eyes. Hermione only grinned at him.

"Surprise."

"I love you so much, Granger," Draco said before kissing her hard.

* * *

A/N: So, this is the end of that story. I hope you enjoyed it! I certainly enjoyed writing it, reading all the reviews and seeing how many people followed it. Thank, you, thank you, thank you, so, so much!

Oh! And I'm also working on some Dramione one-shots (they should be done very, very soon), so if you're interested, stay tuned! I'm also planning on translating my unfinished Fremione story to English, because I've discovered I can no longer think in my native language (which is Polish, if anyone is curious). So, if you enjoy Fremione like me, stay tuned for that too! Okay. That's it. I'm done. One last time, thank you for reading! :)


End file.
